Shandong Ruyi faces winding up court case for Gieves & Hawkes this week

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 8, 2021

Troubled Chinese group Shandong Ruyi faces a court battle this week as a winding up order for the Gieves & Hawkes brand is decided on.

The debt-laden group has already quietly withdrawn its Aquascutum brand from the market outside China, and now its Trinity Group that owns the Gieves & Hawkes, Kent & Curwen and Cerruti brands, has suspended trading in its shares and is facing a winding-up order from banking giant Standard Chartered.

The company has appealed against this and The Times reported that the appeal will be heard in a court in Hong Kong this Friday. It didn’t say whether Kent & Curwen or Cerruti would be affected by the order. It did say that the company hasn't commented on the situation.

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Ahead of that, the newspaper has been told by sources that the Gieves & Hawkes business is already being marketed by liquidators. It continues to trade for now and reportedly has seen a boom in recent periods as the wedding and event season has sprung back to life following the end of Covid restrictions in Britain.

The business dates back 250 years and continues to own 1 Savile Row in the heart of London's bespoke tailoring district.

Aquascutum, as mentioned, is no longer available in its domestic market and The Times said it had received little investment in recent years. It didn't reopen its Jermyn Street store in central London when lockdowns were eased and its famous trench-coats are now only available online in China.

It's not known whether Aquascutum would be sold, but if it was, sources told the newspaper that another Chinese business would be the most likely buyer, although it's hoped that UK names might be interested too. M&S has been suggested. That would have been unthinkable a few years ago but the company has been expanding in recent periods and recently bought the Jaeger brand out of administration.