No PE or private investor will touch this at the moment. The...

No PE or private investor will touch this at the moment. The leases on the underperforming stores are a millstone around the company's neck and the only economic way to get out them is via the VA process. I've seen a few similar situations and a new investor is far better off buying the pieces they want out of the VA process rather than investing now.

Personally I never understood why this business listed in the first place. When I read the prospectus, I thought that the market segment that they were targeting and the expansion strategy both made sense, but that sort of a strategy would make far more sense under PE ownership rather than as a listed public company.

Sadly with the partial failure of the capital raising and the wall looking like it is coming up pretty quickly, I wouldn't be surprised if the directors and management of the company have already engaged an insolvency firm to advise them so they can take advantage of the "safe harbour" protections against personal liability.