Furniture chain enters pre-pack
Furniture retailer Lombok has undergone a pre-pack administration that has saved its London outlets and online business, while nine stores across the UK have closed.Leonard Curtis was appointed administrator to Angora, the owner of Lombok, and managed a pre-pack that saw management and investors at Angora buy the business out of administration.
It is the second occasion that Lombok has entered a pre-pack, after turnaround specialist Privet Capital bought the company out of administration in 2009.
The latest deal enabled the current management and investors at Angora to keep open three stores in Tottenham Court Road, London, Batley in west Yorkshire and Fulham. The company’s House of Fraser concession in Oxford Street will also keep trading along with the online business.
The stores which are closing are based in Brighton, Leamington Spa, Kingston, Bluewater in Kent, Wimbledon, Chiswick, Hampstead, west London and Guildford.
A consultation on job losses is under way but a spokesperson for Lombok could not confirm the number of redundancies expected to be made.
A Leonard Curtis spokeswoman said: “Neil Bennett and Michael Healy of Leonard Curtis were appointed administrators of Angora (2009) Ltd. Certain assets were sold immediately to its management team and existing investors to guarantee fulfilment of all customer orders and enable Lombok to continue to trade.”
A Lombok spokesperson said: “In order to secure the future of Lombok in very challenging trading conditions, Lombok is in the final stages of an essential restructuring which is refocusing the company on its successful online offering and key flagship stores.
“The restructure has led to the closure of nine stores with a focus on Tottenham Court Road, House of Fraser concession, clearance store, Batley and online channels which remain open for business.”
Lombok was founded by entrepreneur Alex Cresswell-Turner as a retailer specialising in eastern-inspired furniture.