Boohoo offloads head office for £49.5m
Part of the proceeds will be used to pay down the remainder of its term loan, which was due for repayment in August 2025
Boohoo has completed the sale of its London office for a total of £49.5m. Located on Great Pulteney Street, Soho, the site was sold to Global Holdings UK Limited, an independent property fund.
Boohoo said the move would help to “further strengthen the company’s balance sheet”.
Part of the proceeds will be used to pay down the remainder of its term loan, which was due for repayment in August 2025.
This will leave it with a £125m revolving credit facility, which Boohoo said is “sufficient for its needs going forward”.
At the same time, the company formally appointed CEO Dan Finley as a director on its board.
The move comes after the company’s shareholders voted against appointing Mike Ashley and Mike Lennon to its board last week.
The vote followed a months-long row between Boohoo and its largest shareholder Frasers over the leadership of the group.
Frasers was looking to install founder Ashley to the Boohoo board alongside Lennon, a restructuring expert. The company also called for Boohoo’s co-founder Mahmud Kamani to be ousted.
Ashley’s company wrote to Boohoo shareholders five times to urge them to back its proposal at a meeting last week, claiming the pair could help revive the fast fashion retailer.
In one open letter to shareholders, Ashley noted that Boohoo’s board of directors were asked to remove Kamani, saying “recent events, in particular the results, lack of transparency and further supply chain allegations, should leave shareholders in no doubt – Mr. Kamani must go”.
Boohoo in turn argued that Ashley has “ulterior motives”, suggesting Frasers was potentially looking to disrupt its turnaround plans to acquire its assets at a lower price, and has urged shareholders to vote against the resolutions.
Earlier this month, the retailer said that independent proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended shareholders vote against Fraser’s bid for board representation.
It said that the ISS states that Frasers has offered a “superficial view of performance and no specific plans for change”. It also highlighted what it thought were “potential conflicts of interest” from its proposed board members Ashley and Lennon.
