Bluestar Alliance signed a letter of intent with specialty retailer Brookstone to acquire the brand assets of the company and to serve as a stalking horse bidder in Brookstone’s Chapter 11 restructuring.
Specialty retailer Brookstone filed Chapter 11 and will be closing 101 mall stories. Wells Fargo has agreed to provide $30 million in post-petition financing to support the company during the sale.
Gordon Brothers Finance has funded $115 million of deals, over 90 days between May and August.
GE Capital, Corporate Retail Finance announced it is providing Brookstone with a $115 million facility to support the company’s recent acquisition by Sailing Innovation and general working capital needs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a Chinese consortium that won an auction to buy Brookstone Holdings out of bankruptcy plans to keep nearly all of the specialty retailer’s 240 stores open.
Brookstone announced that Sailing Innovation, along with a financing commitment from GE Capital, has been selected as the winning bidder at the company’s auction for a final purchase price of $135.7 million, net of cash and assumed liabilities.
ABF Journal illustrator Jerry Gonzalez provides his take on recent retail trends whereby e-commerce is the preferred shopping medium over brick-and-mortar stores, resulting in retail shop closures and bankruptcy filings (i.e., Brookstone’s Chapter 11).
The WSJ reported that bankrupt retailer Brookstone received bankruptcy court approval to conduct an auction sale of company ownership. WSJ said the auction is scheduled for June 2. Competing bids are due by May 28.
Bloomberg reported that Brookstone won bankruptcy court approval for a DIP financing that will be used for working capital and to pay off the outstanding balance under a Wells Fargo-led prepetition credit facility.
Bloomberg reported that Brookstone filed for bankruptcy to pursue a sale to Spencer Spirit Holdings. Bankruptcy court documents show that company owes $51.1 million to a prepetition secured lender group led by Wells Fargo as administrative agent.