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Published 4 November 2020 Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Related Topics Coronavirus pandemic Clarks, one of the UK's oldest shoe chains, has been rescued in a £100m investment deal. The money is being invested by the Hong Kong-based private equity firm LionRock Capital. As part of the deal, Clarks - which has 320 shops across the UK - will enter a form of administration known as a company voluntary agreement (CVA). The company said the agreement meant no shops would be permanently shut and no jobs would be lost. Like many retailers Somerset-based Clarks has struggled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The CVA means landlords will have to accept a percentage of a shop's revenue for their rent instead of relying on a fixed lease. Clarks first began making shoes in Street 195 years ago. Philip de Klerk, interim finance chief at …

A line of 60 uniformed security guards stretched across the entrance to ailing Chinese property giant Evergrande’s gleaming Shenzhen tower on Monday as dozens of angry investors demanded answers – and their money – from the company. The protesters, who claimed they had been “swindled”, represent just a fraction of an estimated 1.5m people who pumped cash into Evergrande to buy apartments which have yet to be built – and may never be. Evergrande, founded in 1996 by the well-connected billionaire Xu Jiayin, rode an urban property boom now running out of steam and is teetering under a $300bn debt burden. The firm was forced to deny an imminent bankruptcy but ratings agencies predict a default, while domestic banks and foreign creditors are on the hook, prompting fears of a "Lehman moment" for the world’s second-biggest economy. “Right now, there are an awful lot of people in China paying for a property from a company that looks like it's going down the plughole,” says Mark Williams, …

Clarks shoes rescued in £100m deal with LionRock Capital

China’s property market runs out of steam as millions demand their money back