If that happened, the various group companies would have to put money into the administrator, it warned. "If the administrator is not pre-funded then there is a risk that centres may have to close for a period."
KPMG, administrator-in-waiting, is reportedly seeking £12 million of additional funding according to Sky News.
Intu has taken out loans secured against the group company, but also against its individual shopping centres. It has also structured itself so it buys services such as shopping centre support staff from other Intu group companies. With many of its centres having suffered a collapse in rents from retail tenants, they find themselves struggling to pay for those services, fuelling its difficulties in operating as an ongoing business.
Meanwhile, its history of having issued bonds secured on certain individual shopping centres is making it harder to secure additional funding.
Negotiators are trying to establish a structure by which those who have lent on individual shopping centres can share in any improvement in the overall value of the group. Talks are widely expected to include swapping Intu's group debt for shares in the company which may appreciate when the economy recovers, but that would not currently apply to those with debt secured on particular sites.
Today Intu said the standstill was not expected to exceed 15 months.
Intu's 17 malls are a key part of the economies of the regions they serve. While the group directly employs around 3000 staff, a further 100,000 work in the stores run by its tenants plus a further 30,000 in its broader supply chain.
Its update today comes just a day before so-called "quarter day" tomorrow, when quarterly rents come due. Tenants big and small have demanded reduced rents or withdrawn payments altogether, citing the total collapse in their own revenues during lockdown. Sir Philip Green's Arcadia and McDonald's are among those who have chosen not to pay landlords.
In the case of Intu, creditors have a series of complex factors to consider. Few want to be saddled with owning assets that require expertise to operate and manage. Many may decide they are more likely to recoup some of their losses if Intu management continues to run the malls in some form.
