Buyer for bankrupt V&D chain to be named this week

Liquidators for the Dutch department store chain V&D say they expect to identify a buyer for the business by the end of the week.

Around 10 candidates are in the running to take over some or all of V&D’s 62 stores across the Netherlands, including the La Place restaurant sites.

The liquidator said further talks were ongoing with a handful of contenders about a possible takeover. The preferred solution is to sell V&D to a single buyer, but dividing the company into two or three parts is also being considered. Selling the profitable La Place sites separately is another option.

One of the leading contenders is Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) via German chain Galeria Kaufhof, which it acquired last year. HBC owns 137 retail sites in Germany and 16 in Belgium and is looking to expand its European operations.

Edwin van Wijk, spokesman for the liquidator, said securing a good price was the number one priority. ‘We want to recover as much as we can for the creditors,’ he told Dutch news broadcaster NOS.

V&D’s current owner, US-based private equity firm Sun Capital, is not thought to be among the bidders. The company was at the centre of more bad news this week as it emerged that its upmarket Dutch fashion label Scotch & Soda made a €74 mln loss in 2015.

The V&D department store chain was declared bankrupt on New Year's Eve, after Sun Capital said it was not prepared to come up with the €40 mln needed to save the business. The Florida-based firm has invested €260 mln in V&D since acquiring it in 2010, according to lawyer Jan Willem van Andel.

The owners of the 62 sites occupied by V&D have formed a group to monitor the negotiations between the liquidators and potential buyers. They say there is a constructive dialogue between the liquidators and V&D’s management.

Retail experts have speculated on whether new owners will break with the 130-year-old V&D name. ‘V&D is yesterday’s brand and has been destroyed by 20 years of mismanagement,’ analyst Paul Moers told AD.

Hudson’s Bay retained the Galeria Kaufhof brand after buying the ailing German chain from Metro Group last year for €2.5 bn.

Dutch retail analyst Ton Bos said the Toronto-listed company is looking to acquire large department stores in Europe where they can introduce luxury US fashion labels via Saks OFF 5th, the outlet arm of the Saks Fifth Avenue chain.

The La Place restaurants are another attractive aspect for Hudson’s Bay, Bos told Dutch financial paper Het Financieele Dagblad. ‘La Place could easily be added to the Kaufhof stores. That gives the business huge synergy advantages.’