Carlyle in talks with Peace Mark
Private equity firm Carlyle Group is in talks with Peace Mark (Holdings) about becoming a white knight for the troubled company after CVC Asia Pacific withdrew a preliminary offer last month, according to a source.
However, it remains unclear whether Carlyle will be interested in a luxury watch retailer with cash-flow problems. A Carlyle spokesman was unavailable for comment.
Peace Mark yesterday said assets at three of its mainland stores, worth 300 million yuan (HK$342.18 million), had been frozen by local courts after Bank of East Asia branches in the mainland sued the outlets.
Peace Mark said the three shops owed a total of 27 million yuan to BEA Shenzhen and BEA Guangzhou.
'We don't rule out the possibility of similar cases happening in the future,' said a company source.
A bank source said the company's bank creditors planned to meet again this week. 'It's difficult to predict whether a standstill agreement [on debt repayments] can be concluded as there's no detailed agenda yet,' he said.
Peace Mark, which makes watches and runs the TimeZone retail chain, is negotiating with creditors to temporarily freeze the repayment of HK$1.21 billion in debt.
Another source said at least three small lenders had demanded loan repayments. 'Individual banks' decision to take action on the company before the standstill agreement is signed may create uncertainty.'
