8/10/17 Recap: The Auburn Washington-based specialty retailer of lingerie, sexual health and wellness products with 46 locations has filed for bankruptcy after failing to find an out-of-court buyer for its 5000 SKUs of lubes, $265 vibrators, sex toys and other fun stuff. This place sounds...liberated. And while the sex retail industry is allegedly gaining acceptance - at least according to the Company's own filing - it seems that Peekay was unable or incapable of capitalizing on it given its capital structure (PETITION Note: Agent Provocateur also filed for bankruptcy this year so query whether this really is a brick-and-mortar business or whether people would really rather discreetly order their sex toys on Amazon...our money is on the latter. Prior to the internet, options were a bit more limited, we gather.). Consequently, the company's Term Loan A Lenders have consented to the use of its cash collateral and are credit bidding $31mm of their debt to acquire the company after a long and failed attempt by the Company to explore other out-of-court options (which apparently included an IPO...WTF? What would the ticker be? "SEX"? "DIK"? "ASS"? We could do this all day.).
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Shannon)
Capital Structure: $38.2mm first lien term loan ($27mm term loan A + $8.4mm interest/fees, $14.4mm term loan B + $1.98mm interest/fees), $19mm PIK seller notes
Investment Banker: SSG Advisors LLC (J. Scott Victor)
Claims Agent: Rust Consulting/Omni Bankruptcy (*click on company name above for free docket access)
Other Parties in Interest:
Term A Lenders/TLA Acquisition Corp. (Alpine Associates, Alpine Heritage LP, Alpine Heritage II LP, Alpine Heritage Offshore Fund Ltd., Chatham Capital Management IV LLC, The K2 Principal Fund LP, Tor Capital LLC, Twin Haven Special Opportunities Fund IV LP)
Legal: Cullen and Dykman LLP (S. Jason Teele, Nicole Stefanelli) & (local) Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP (Christopher Samis, L. Katherine Good, Aaron Stulman, Kevin Shaw)
Financial Advisor: The DAK Group (Sheon Karol, Ari Fuchs, Claudia Levine)
2/5/17 Recap: Seems like chapter 22 bankruptcies are the "it" thing now: everyone's doing it. Last year, Versa Capital Management bought the company in the Vestis Group bankruptcy and, now, Sports Direct looks to pick up the pieces in yet ANOTHER sale of the Bob's Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports retail properties. Top creditors include Under Armour and Google which says something about (a) why UA's growth numbers were considerably off last quarter and (b) the cost of Google SEO for companies in this internet age.
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware
Capital Structure: $41mm RCF (PNC Bank), $42mm TL (Sportsdirect)
Company Professionals:
Legal: Bracewell LLP (Robert Burns, Jennifer Feldshur, David Riley, Mark Dendinger) & (local) Cole Schotz (Norman Pernick, Marion Quirk, Katharina Earle)
Turnaround Advisor: AlixPartners LLC (Spencer Ware, Susan Brown, Afshin Azhari)
12/06/16 Recap: California-based (NW of LA) nat-gas fired merchant power provider that services SoCal files for bankruptcy citing a litany of reasons: (i) adverse market for nat-gas fired electricity given the rise of wind and solar power in CA; (ii) the regulatory environment; (iii) cap and trade; (iv) its unsustainable debt load; and (v) the army of O'Melveny lawyers servicing the deal. Okay, not the last part but see below: that sure is a surge of (man)power.
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware
Capital Structure: $524mm of total funded debt. $35mm '20 1st lien (BofA), $292mm '20 1st lien TL (BofA), $110mm '20 second lien TL (Sun Trust), $87mm '19 LPAC TL, $34mm LOCs (SunTrust)
Company Professionals:
Legal: O'Melveny & Meyers LLP (John Rapisardi, George Davis, Peter Friedman, Diana Perez, Andrew Sorkin, Matthew Kremer, Valerie Cohen) & (local) Richards Layton & Finger PA (Mark Collins, Jason Madron, Andrew Dean) & (conflicts counsel) Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP (Steven Reisman, Turner Smith, Peter Behmke, Cindi Giglio)
