David’s Bridal has implemented its previously announced restructuring support agreement by voluntarily filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the District of Delaware.
The RSA, which is supported by the vast majority of the company’s term loan lenders and substantially all of its senior noteholders and equity holders, will reduce the company’s debt by more than $400 million and provide significant financial flexibility to support long-term growth prospects.
David’s Bridal has sufficient liquidity to meet its business obligations and will continue to operate its business as usual throughout the court-supervised restructuring process, including meeting and exceeding customer expectations and needs. Customers can continue to shop across the more than 300 David’s Bridal stores and online without disruption. Orders will arrive on time and bridal appointments will not be impacted.
As part of the court-supervised process, David’s Bridal has obtained commitments for $60 million in new debtor-in-possession financing from its current term loan lenders, including Oaktree Capital, as previously reported by Reuters.
The company also received a recommitment of its existing $125 million ABL revolving credit facility to support its continued operations during the restructuring. David’s long-standing vendor and manufacturing partner relationships are expected to be unimpaired during restructuring.
“For more than 60 years, David’s has delivered beautiful, high-quality dresses and accessories for our customers’ most special occasions, and the actions we are taking will enable us to build on that tradition,” said Scott Key, CEO of David’s Bridal. “Today’s announcement is just the next step in our efforts to proactively secure David’s Bridal for a long, successful future. We are implementing our consensual restructuring plan from a position of strength and, with the support of our lenders, noteholders and equity holders, the plan will allow us to reduce our debt significantly while continuing to run our business as usual.”
As part of the Chapter 11 process, the company has filed a number of customary motions seeking authorization to support its operations, including authority to continue payment of employee wages and benefits and honor customer payments and orders for dresses and alterations.
Debevoise & Plimpton served as David’s legal advisor, Evercore as its financial advisor and AlixPartners as its restructuring advisor.
The court-supervised process is expected to be completed by early January.
