Steinhoff asks its creditors for yet another extension

Steinhoff International has asked creditors to agree to a fifth extension of the deadline for completion of the restructuring of the furniture retailer.

The deadline will be moved to August 19 from August 9.

On Thursday, just hours before the August 9 deadline, the embattled furniture retailer with outlets on four continents said it had requested creditors to agree to extend the date for completion of the group restructuring.

In December 2018, a year after the announcement of accounting irregularities wiped R200bn off the value of Steinhoff’s shares, the group’s creditors signed up to a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with an end-March 2019 deadline.

A CVA is used by financially distressed businesses to reach agreement with creditors, and enables an insolvent company to ringfence its historic debt and continue trading.

The March deadline was extended to May, and then to June and August 9.

In a statement on Thursday, Steinhoff said: “Despite significant progress having been made in the implementation of the restructuring, including the resolution of almost all matters required prior to commencing the restructuring steps, a small number of matters outside of the control of Steinhoff Europe and Steinhoff Finance Holding have not been concluded.”

The company said the latest extension was needed to put in place the final steps of the implementation of the restructuring.