Property giant British Land voted against HoF CVA

The department store’s controversial restructuring plan, which axed 31 stores and resulted in 6,000 job losses, would have been blocked without the votes of connected creditors.

The documents indicate that despite opposition from major landlords, the department store’s CVA was voted through due to support from House of Fraser’s Pension Trustees and other companies directly associated with the retailer.

Although the CVA won the support of retail property giants Intu and Hammerson, others are reportedly considering a legal challenge of the restructuring plans.

Landlords have a 28-day window to put forward a challenge to a CVA from the day it is voted through, which gives property firms a two-week window should they decide to pursue legal action.

Landlords’ claims to voting on House of Fraser’s CVA were discounted by 75%, as is standard practice.

A spokesperson for House of Fraser’s joint supervisors KPMG said: “The law dictates that votes in a CVA are based on the value of a creditor’s claim.

“A landlord’s claim is technically ‘unascertained’ as it relates to future rather than current liabilities. The Insolvency Rules actually dictate that ‘unascertained claims’ should be valued at £1 for voting purposes, but in practice, and as was the case here, the market has always taken a more generous calculation approach.

“Moreover, it remains that those landlords whose claims are compromised by the CVA have the right to take back their stores.”