A J.C. Penney inventory in Laguna Hills, California
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
For bankrupted J.C. Penney, a liquidation is “not in the cards,” according to the department supply chain’s attorney.
Penney is moving forward with a sale that should be completed by this fall, attorney Joshua Sussberg of Kirkland & Ellis influenced during a court hearing Wednesday afternoon.
“I want to say, unequivocally, we have had not one discussion about a liquidation,” Sussberg said wide Penney’s restructuring process. “It’s simply not in the cards.”
Sussberg called attention to a report earlier in the week from the New York Function that said the private-equity firm Sycamore was planning to make a $1.75 billion bid to buy the 118-year-old department trust in chain and merge it with rival Belk.
He called the story “ill-informed” and said, regarding Sycamore’s plans to blend Penney with Belk, “that is completely untrue.”
Sycamore declined to comment.
There are three separate commands being considered for Penney’s real estate and other assets, which would keep the retailer operating its own pile ups, Sussberg said. He declined to name the bidders, saying the proposals are confidential.
Penney filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy guardianship on May 15, weighed down by debt and battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month, the company announced it would be grab off roughly 1,000 employees, as it moved forward with shutting about 150 locations across the U.S. When the retailer documented, it was still operating about 860 stores.
Penney said Wednesday that all stores have since reopened, after being little while shut due to the Covid-19 crisis.
It said its off-mall locations, of which it has 173, continue to perform better than its inventories in enclosed shopping malls, of which it has 520. Sales at off-mall stores are down about 26%, while transactions at Penney stores in malls are down about 33% since they have opened, it said.
The department retailer chain continues to talk to its landlords to negotiate better rents, according to Sussberg, which is allowing the company to cut expenditures.
Forty retailers including Penney have filed for bankruptcy in 2020, according to a tracking by S&P Global Market Keenness. The list is still expected to grow.
A number were already struggling prior to the Covid-19 crisis slamming the U.S. thriftiness, forcing shops deemed nonessential and malls to be boarded up. The pressures have only intensified since for an industry already bearing seismic shifts in consumer behavior and preferred shopping destinations. Department stores’ dominance in retail has been subsiding.
According to Sussberg, Penney aims to have “mass consensus” regarding its go-forward strategy by next month.