Seraphine: Princess of Wales’ favourite owed a king’s ransom
Seraphine, the maternity fashion retailer whose clothes were worn by the Princess of Wales, owed over £33m as it collapsed into administration before being rescued.
The business ceased trading and entered administration in July with consultancy firm Interpath appointed to oversee the process.
The move led to the majority of its 95-strong staff being made redundant.
At the time, Seraphine said it had been experiencing “trading challenges” and that its sales had been impacted by “fragile consumer confidence”.
The retailer was founded in 2002 and became well known when Catherine wore its clothes during her three pregnancies.
Seraphine listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 a market valuation of just over £150m.
However, it was taken private two years later in a deal worth more than £15m.
Other high-profile women to have worn the company’s clothes include Halle Berry, Kate Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Katherine Jenkins and Kate Winslet.
Seraphine rescued by FTSE 100 giant Next
At the end of July, it was confirmed that Seraphine’s brand and intellectual property had been acquired by FTSE 100 retail giant Next for £600,000.
The deal included a deal Seraphine founder Cecile Reinaud being brought back as an adviser.
Reinaud sold the business for £50m to private equity group Mayfair in December 2020.
Now, a new document filed with Companies House has revealed how much Seraphine owed to its creditors when it entered administration.
According to the document, which was drawn up by Interpath, the business had an estimated deficiency to its creditors of £33.2m.
That included an estimated deficiency to its unsecured creditors of £28.3m.
Seraphine’s secured creditor, HSBC UK, was owed around £6.1m.
Interpath said it is likely that the bank will recover at least some of its money but that unsecured creditors are unlikely to be paid.
The administrators added that during the sale process, it contacted 238 parties including 56 trade buyers and 182 financial investors.