Frédéric Merlin 100 million euro fundraising after BHV Marais Shein fiasco, Digi Mart USA News: Frédéric Merlin, head of the Rhône group, has announced a €100 million fundraising for the company’s other stores, following the Shein fiasco at the BHV Marais department store in Paris.
The funding is a bond debt raised from NorthWall Capital, an English fund with which the group has been working for nearly six months. Merlin said the fund was convinced that the group’s economic model is sound and sustainable.
That model involves acquiring large, half-empty shopping centers and large city-center department stores that were all loss-making, then transforming them and guiding them toward profitability. Merlin described the investment as a renewal for the group and said the BHV Marais episode has renewed hope of resuming the group’s expansion.
Of the €100 million, about €30 million will repay a bond debt that was reaching maturity. The remaining €70 million will be reinvested in the group’s current activities.
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