Billionaire Barclay Brothers Commit New Funds For Shop Direct

(Bloomberg) --

Shop Direct Ltd.’s owners, the Barclay brothers, are injecting new funds into the online retailer to keep it afloat, according to a statement.

The Barclays --who also own London’s landmark Ritz hotel and newspaper publisher Telegraph Media Group-- will contribute 75 million pounds ($96 million) of cash into the business by the end of November. Shop Direct also has commitments for additional 75 million pounds of funding, which will initially remain undrawn, the comapny said.

Shop Direct said last month it was considering a number of funding options for a provision of 150 million pounds to cover claims related to misselling of insurance products. The company recorded a loss for the financial year ended in June.

Deloitte approved the annual accounts noting “material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the group and parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

The company also disclosed on Wednesday it received an offer to underwrite as much as 100 million pounds of new debt under its existing receivables securitization program.

Its 550 million pounds of bonds due November 2022 gained 3 pence on the pound to 95 pence on Wednesday, hitting the highest level in two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Read more: Shop Direct Gets Funding Commitment, Equity Injection This Month

To contact the reporters on this story: Antonio Vanuzzo in London at avanuzzo@bloomberg.net;Irene García Pérez in London at igarciaperez@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Luca Casiraghi

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