Boutique chain files for bankruptcy
Written by luck on December 4, 2020
Girls’s boutique chain Francesca’s has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety with plans to promote the enterprise, together with its brick-and-mortar shops.
The Houston-based clothes chain is the newest retailer to file for chapter throughout the coronavirus pandemic, becoming a member of Guitar Heart, New York & Firm, J.C. Penney, Stein Mart, Sur La Desk, Ascena Retail Group, Tuesday Morning and several other others.
In keeping with a information launch, Francesca’s filed Thursday in U.S. Chapter Court docket in Delaware, which famous it nonetheless plans to shut about 140 of its 700 shops beforehand introduced in September.
The corporate mentioned Thursday 558 shops stay open but it surely “plans to aim to renegotiate various leases throughout this course of, which can embrace closing extra boutiques.”
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On Thursday, the corporate mentioned it’s acquiring $25 million in financing from its current lender, Tiger Finance, to facilitate the gross sales course of, topic to court docket approval.
Francesca’s CEO Andrew Clarke mentioned within the launch that the method permits the corporate to handle lease obligations and “search a brand new investor that may see Francesca’s into the long run.”
“The financing offered by Tiger will allow francesca’s to pursue a sale course of that can enable us proceed to concentrate on our omni-channel methods, optimize our boutique fleet, broaden our buyer attain with model extensions and drive sustainable, worthwhile progress,” Clarke mentioned.
The corporate says it has lined up a “stalking horse” bid, or first bid in a court-supervised gross sales course of, and has a letter of intent from TerraMar Capital LLC, an funding agency that gives debt and fairness capital to middle-market companies.
“We’re assured that we are going to emerge from this course of as a stronger firm poised to drive progress by exploring new model avenues, increasing our ecommerce channels, and offering our prospects with the newest vogue choices and treasure hunt experiences they know and love us for,” Clarke mentioned.
Comply with USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko
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