UK bookseller Waterstones has retained investment bank NM Rothschild, to look for a new lender or possibly a new owner for the chain. That representation is making news following a report last week in the Evening Standard suggesting that current owner Alexander Mamut is facing financial pressure in the wake of the collapse of Russian bank Otkritie, in which Mamut was a big shareholder. As the bank reorganizes, shareholders are being required to turn over significant assets and — because those owners are said to have used the bank to finance some of their own deals, in some cases Otkritie is taking over […]
