Arcadia's group of Philip Green on the edge of the knife while the creditors vote on a bailout – live business | Business

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The future of Sir Philip Green's retail empire and the employment of 18,000 people are at stake this morning.

Homeowners of Arcadia stores across the UK are heading to central London to decide on the acceptance of a restructuring plan that will result in hundreds of job cuts and many store closures.

If this offer were rejected, Arcadia could then fall into the administration, one of the biggest failures of the retail trade for years.

Today's vote is extremely tight. We know that because Green was forced to drastically suspend the vote on this voluntary arrangement entered into by the company a week ago – once it became apparent that the owners were not playing ball.

Green has been working on the phones since (his famous old Nokia phone has to be hot), trying to twist the owners' arms to approve the plan.

He was also forced to soften the initial agreement, reducing the rent cuts that the owners were asked to swallow. They are now facing a 25% to 50% success, down from 30% to 70% previously.

But that may not be enough! The real estate group INTU said it would oppose the CVA deal again today. This is bad news for Green: INTU has 35 Arcadia stores, about 15% of the votes.

Arcadia needs 75% of its support for the restructuring to be completed.

An INTU source says that Arcadia's proposal is not right.

Arcadia is asking for a large discount on valuable space and Intu is not ready to give up. Intu wants to create a fair environment for all of its retailers and it is unfair to get hacked from one of them. "

The meeting will begin at noon, near St Paul's. At the end of the day, we'll know if the bell rings for Green's empire and the jobs of thousands at Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.

Also coming soon

Trade war worries continue to dominate financial markets, as investors question whether Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will reach an agreement at the G20 meeting later this month.

European stock markets should open lower, while recent optimism has collapsed …

The latest US inflation data could also change the markets, as it could help determine whether the US Federal Reserve's central bank will soon lower interest rates (as demanded by Trump).

L & # 39; s calendar

• 09.15: Speech by Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, on the "global headwinds"
• 12h: beginning of the meeting of the creditors of Arcadia
• 13:30 (Paris time): US inflation figures in May