Homebase racked up debts of over £730m ahead of collapse

The company behind Homebase owed more than £730m when it collapsed into administration before the brand was partially saved by the owner of The Range, it has been revealed.

Retail group CDS, which also owns Wilko, took on 70 stores and secured the future of up to 1,600 jobs at the troubled DIY and garden chain in the recent deal.

However, the future of 2,000 other workers and its remaining stores have been left hanging in the balance.

Administrators at Teneo have since placed 74 leasehold Homebase stores on the market.

They have set a deadline of 29 November for potential suitors to buy the remaining stores, amid efforts to secure more funds for creditors.

According to the PA news agency, Homebase was waiting on around £5m of tax rebates before collapsing into administration.

Homebase creditors face pay out wait

A newly-filed document with Companies House has also revealed how much the firm behind Homebase owed to its creditors when Teneo was appointed.

The firm behind Homebase owed an intra-group debt to Ark Finco of around £524m when the administrators were brought in.

Teneo has revealed that Ark Finco is unlikely to recover its debt through the administration.

HHGL Limited also had an asset finance loan facility from Wells Fargo which had a maximum availability of £32.3m. When Teneo was appointed, it was drawn to £20.1m.

A £80m working capital finance facility from Ark Finco was also fully drawn when Homebase entered administration.

Teneo has said it estimates there will be around 2,305 ordinary preferential creditor claims totalling c.£938,000 in relation to holiday pay only.

The administrators said that it currently anticipates that there will be enough funds to enable these claims to be paid in full.

The firm added that it expects HMRC to be paid the c.£12,767 it is owed.

Teneo’s document also shows that there are around 1,000 unsecured creditors with non-preferential claims totalling c.£100m.

The administrators said that the company behind Homebase will have enough property to enable a distribution to be made to the unsecured creditors.