Lenders register charges against Brown Thomas Arnotts as new owners take over

AIB and Swiss bank Julius Baer have registered charges against the trading company behind Brown Thomas and Arnotts just as its new owners take the reins at the department store chain.

Brown Thomas Arnotts, which operates the stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, was sold as part of the sale of the Selfridges group to Thai-headquartered Central Group and Austrian Signa Holding last December in a deal worth a reported a €4.7 billion.

The new owners completed the acquisition last week, which saw the Weston family cede control of its UK and Ireland department store empire.

Documents filed with the Companies Registration Office reveal that AIB and Julius Baer have backed the new owners. On August 18th, the Irish lender registered a floating charge against the business’s assets and operations while the Swiss bank registered a charge secured against the company’s property assets, including its flagship properties on Grafton Street and Henry Street in Dublin, Patrick Street in Cork City, O’Connell Street in Limerick City and William Street in Galway.

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Formed in 2020 when the entities behind Arnotts were folded into the company that operates Brown Thomas’s outlets, Brown Thomas Arnotts had property, plant and equipment assets of more than €118 million at the end of January 2021, accounts filed in June reveal, up from €77 million before the merger.

Turnover declined by close to 10 per cent in the 2021 financial year to €157.8 million with the directors noting in the accounts that the Covid-19 pandemic had “a significant short-term impact” on its operations. The company lost almost €1.8 million in the financial year after posting a €5.9 million profit in 2020.

On Friday last, its new owners announced they had completed the acquisition of the Selfridges group. Tos Chirathivat, executive chairman and chief executive of Central Group and Dieter Berninghaus, chairman of Signa Holding, will act as the new co-chairman of the expanded group, which already operates 22 department stores across Europe including KaDeWe in Germany and Globus in Switzerland.