Muji Europe Holdings Limited (05997094): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2024-04-08
- Administrators
- Alexander Williams, Simon J Edel
- Administrators' firm
- EY
- Formerly
- Acraman (431) Limited
- Incorporated
- 2006-11-13
- Location
- London
- Industry
- 47190 Other retail sale in non-specialised stores
Why it went into administration
- COVID-19
- Cash flow / liquidity pressure
From the administrators' statement
RKJ (formerly Seiyu Co., Ltd.) first established Mujirushi Ryohin (‘Muji’) in Japan in 1980 as an exclusive brand, with the principal activity being the retail sale of Japanese household and fashion merchandise and selected food products. RKJ opened the first Muji store outside of Japan in London in 1991.
The Company, MEH, was established in January 2007 by way of a Joint Partnership between RKJ (66%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (‘MC’) (34%) (‘the Joint Partnership’) and, prior to Administration, acted as a holding company operating 32 retail stores and e-commerce channels through 10 fully owned operating subsidiaries across Europe. Each subsidiary operated the stores in their respective jurisdiction. The Company’s subsidiaries were located in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Denmark. MEH was also party to franchise agreements with entities based in Ireland and Poland.
The Company provided the central management function of the European group and was responsible for purchasing stock from RKJ for onward sale to the European subsidiaries. The Company also leased the European office headquarters in London and a warehouse in the Netherlands to store stock and employed 43 staff.
Administrators' statement of proposals (2024-04-23) · Companies House register