Arcadia and Topshop CVAs challenged by property group

Arcadia, which last month won backing for seven CVAs as it seeks a turnaround, said those covering Arcadia Group and Topshop Topman have been challenged by two legal entities of US property company Vornado – 480-486 Broadway LLC and TMO 1 LLC.

Arcadia chief executive Ian Grabiner pledged to fight Vornado.

He said: “These challenges are entirely without merit and we will vigorously defend them. The CVAs are a vital part of our restructuring, putting the business on a firm financial footing and enabling significant investment as part of our growth plans, which will ultimately benefit all our stakeholders. Our group continues to trade as normal and we remain focussed on delivering our turnaround plans.”

Vornado was previously among a group of five US landlords that claimed to have lost more than £100m as a result of Arcadia’s closure of its US business and filed an objection in a US bankruptcy court.

They maintained then that Arcadia “manipulated and gerrymandered” the separate CVA process in the UK leading to the “complete forfeiture and deprivation” of its rights.