Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm, is in preliminary talks to take J.C. Penney out of bankruptcy should the retailer’s negotiations with its creditors fail.
Department store J.C. Penney is also in discussions with some of its landlords, including Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and Simon Property Group about possible transactions. The company, which filed for bankruptcy in May, has recently received approval from bankruptcy court to access its debtor-in-possession financing, which includes $450M of new money from its existing First Lien lenders.
“We are pleased to have received court approval to access $450M in new money, $225M of which will be drawn immediately,” said Jill Soltau, CEO, J.C. Penney. “This is a positive step forward that will help us execute our Plan for Renewal and store optimisation strategy, continue working seamlessly with our vendor partners, fund our ongoing business operations, and continue our focus on further developing the company’s go-forward business plan to successfully restructure J.C. Penney.
