Matalan - comment

The company this morning released a cleansing statement on a restructuring roadmap that reflects the all-around reluctance of restructuring Matalan, both, naturally from the shareholders’ side, but also from the SSN’s point of view. The plan is to first extend maturities to allow for a coordinated sales period where the ad-hoc group has committed to £200m of staple financing to support a potential new buyer. Such a buyer has not yet been disclosed, except that John Hargreaves is naturally looking to join such a party and remain involved. Failing that process, the document points to a pre-committed D/E swap. We are looking to receive more colour.