💥QVC! Happy Dancin'!!💥

Updates: Avenger Flight Group LLC + Tonopah Solar Energy LLC. Filings: QVC Group Inc. + Finch Therapeutics

Today we’re going to start with our “Chart of the Week,” which shows that liability management exercises have been trending down for several months now. According to its poster, Torsten Slok, Apollo Global Management Inc.’s Chief Economist, this chart demonstrates that the “[b]usiness cycle [is] improving” and that “…there are no signs of a full-blown credit cycle, and the economy remains resilient, supported by the AI boom and the One Big Beautiful Bill.”

We’re not going to argue with any of Dr. Slok’s conclusions in and of themselves but we’re not sure the relative decline in LME’s is indicative of … well … anything, really. The RX industry has been rabidly picking off companies, both private and public, with near-term maturities for several years now. While there are plenty of active LMEs in process, the volume has likely come down due to mere supply constraints more than anything else. Said another way, the maturity wall has already been pushed considerably and so there simply aren’t as many companies left to LME … for now.

Clearly, though, nobody thinks LME is going anywhere and it will remain a critical tool in the toolbox. How do we know? Hmmmm, you have to look reeeeeaaaaaal hard but the signals are there:

Source: FT

Source: Law.com

Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis LLP simply continues to put regular way chapter 11 bankruptcy filings on the board, so let’s dig in 👇.

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💥New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - QVC Group Inc.💥

The demise of the QVC and HSN brands has been greatly exaggerated!

At least that’s according to Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s Joshua Sussberg, serving as lead counsel to Pennsylvania-based QVC Group Inc. (a/k/a Qurate Retail Inc.) and 73 subsidiaries including QVC Inc. and Cornerstone Brands Inc. (“Cornerstone,” collectively with QVC Inc. and the other subsidiaries, the “company”),* which, on April 16, 2026, filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas (Judge Perez) with a plan — small “p” for path (forward) and large “P” for plan of reorganization — to deleverage the company’s balance sheet by several billions of dollars.

That’s right: billions of dollars.

QVC and HSN, as brands, may not be dead — CFO Bill Wafford,** in a declaration that delays the usual preface of background/qualifications and dives right into the state of things, was decidedly clear about that.*** But linear television’s ability to drive enough revenue to service the company’s billions of debt certainly is. That makes this a story of both disruption and evolution. But not death. At least not yet.

Source: GIPHY

Indeed, the company’s evolution is already under way. Over to you Mr. Wafford:

“…QVC Group launched the first ever 24/7 livestream programming on TikTok in April 2025, quickly becoming a top seller on TikTok Shop in the United States, acquiring over 1 million new customers on TikTok in 2025 alone. This business is expected to double in 2026.”

Contemporaneously,

“QVC Group streaming services have approximately 1.3 million monthly average users, and television broadcast continues to have an engaged customer base, with approximately 91% of sales shipped worldwide coming from repeat customers.”

Which is to say that the company believes it is well-positioned to capitalize on new technologies; it has “…decades of experience with content creation and production expertise; deep vendor relationships; a mature distribution network; and brand recognition….” Already, the company has omni-channel infrastructure and reaches 88mm homes via five television channels, and reaches millions of other people through (i) the QVC.com and HSN.com web sites, (ii) virtual multichannel video programming distributors (including Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream and YouTube TV), (iii) streaming video, and (iv) other digital platforms like Facebook Live, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire.

It also has a complex corporate structure**** …

Source: Docket 4

… and a massive capital structure👇:

Source: Docket 4. There’s also $1.272b of preferred equity.

And servicing that cap stack is, the company says, preventing the company from leaning into its evolution and investing in its survival the future.*****

So cue more the liability management? Not so fast. It seems we’re seeing the new Kirkland & Ellis LLP playbook — $80mm “guaranteed” for three years notwithstanding — geared towards advising clients to just do what needs to be done and stop f*cking around. Per Mr. Wafford, “QVC Group’s debt burden—premised on now-declining cash flows from linear TV—has impaired its ability to invest at the level necessary to fully transition to the new digital and live social shopping age. And while various parties were interested in several different “liability management” exercises, QVC Group recognized—in the face of linear TV decline—the time had come to address its U.S. balance sheet.” Man that’s dripping with subtext, 🔥.****** So after eight months of planning and negotiating, the company is ready to put itself through the in-court part of all of this — and emerge in less than two months! Ambitious!!