Sports Direct appoints CBRE on House of Fraser purchase

Sports Direct has named CBRE as its sole adviser on all property matters relating to its acquisition of troubled department store House of Fraser. CBRE said it will contact all of the retailer’s landlords “over the following days”. The team is led by head of national agency James Keany. The fate of HoF’s 59 stores following Mike Ashley’s purchase of the business remains unclear. HoF had previously begun a company voluntary arrangement process that would have enabled it to close 31 of its 59 stores. But seeing as it had not yet completed the procedure when Ashley’s Sports Direct group bought the business, the CVA is now nullified. Its store portfolio spans 7.7m sq ft of retail space, according to figures from Radius Data Exchange. Over the weekend, retail billionaire Philip Day, who was one of the losing bidders for the department store, said he was “delighted” that the business had been rescued but called on Mike Ashley to “do the honourable thing” and pay all its suppliers in full, so that they are not left out of pocket. The retailer’s suppliers and concession holders are collectively owed at least £70m. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette