MCCARTHY Retail on Monday unveiled a capital restructuring plan and said it hoped to raise R900m through a rights offer to be underwritten by its debt funders. It said in a statement that it also planned to convert a R210m loan to its subsidiary Retail Apparel Group (RAG) into shares, while ring-fencing RAG’s future debt requirements. The rights issue, expected to help the group to manage its debt, will result in gearing being reduced to 60% from 979%, the company said. The restructuring follows an extended period during which the group has experienced substantial erosion of its capital base. ”Despite the excellent performance of our motor and financial services divisions, the prolonged and severe recession in the retail consumer area has had an extremely serious impact on the group’s debt levels,” said CEO Brand Pretorius. – Reuters