Landlord drops Monsoon Accessorize CVA challenge

The retail property giant, owner of malls such as Sheffield’s Meadowhall, has agreed to abandon a legal challenge to Monsoon Accessorize’s restructuring plan, Sky News reported.

British Land’s decision clears the way for the retailer to proceed with its CVA, allowing it to slash rents by between 25% and 65% across half of its 258-store estate.

It was not clear on what terms any settlement between British Land and Monsoon had been made, Sky reported. A Monsoon Accessorize spokesman said the challenge had been “withdrawn by agreement”.

British Land is landlord only to a small number of Monsoon branches, but was unhappy with aspects of the CVA such as the structure of new funding from the retailer’s owner, entrepreneur Peter Simon.

The landlord reportedly believed that Simon had taken insufficient notice of landlords’ concerns in the wake of a raft of CVAs. Amid tough trading conditions, CVAs have been initiated by retailers such as Carpetright, Mothercare and New Look.

Creditors have been increasingly willing to take action against CVAs. Last week, Debenhams won a legal ruling enabling it to go ahead with a turnaround strategy after a CVA challenge funded by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.

A separate dispute between British Land and Simon’s private property company Adena involving Monsoon’s former HQ was reported to be unrelated to the CVA clash.

It is unclear whether that dispute has also been resolved.