Shares in South African retailer Steinhoff jumped as much as 40% today, regaining some ground after calling on its lenders to help stabilise the company following the discovery of accounting irregularities last week.
Steinhoff has hired US investment bank Moelis & Co to advise it and asked management consultancy AlixPartners "to assist on liquidity management and operational measures".
"The group is asking for and requires continued support in relation to existing facilities from all its lenders to achieve an immediate stabilisation of the group's financing," Steinhoff said.
The company has delayed its regular annual lenders' meeting in London from December 11 to December 19 having last week postponed its financial results.
$14 billion has been wiped off the company's value since last Wednesday when it ordered an investigation into its accounts and said it had parted ways with its veteran chief executive.
The company's biggest shareholder and its chairman Christo Wiese is temporarily at the helm of the company.
Wiese and former CEO Markus Jooste were instrumental in reinventing Steinhoff, turning it from a modest distributor of furniture made in communist era eastern Europe to a global household goods juggernaut, vying for market share with the likes of IKEA.
Steinhoff has been on shopping spree since 2011 when it took over French furniture retailer Conforama.
Last year's string of acquisitions included Mattress Firm and Poundland, thrusting it firmly on to investors' radar screens.
