The American chain of household items and decoration Bed Bath & Beyond declared bankruptcy this Sunday, international media report.
It did so after years of difficulties to cover outstanding debts and finance its operations, he says. a report from the Spanish agency EFE.
The company specified in a statement, quoted by the newspaper, that it has received a commitment from the investment firm Sixth Street Specialty Lending to receive financing of 240 million dollars that will allow them to keep their stores and web pages open in this process. .
The New Jersey company has 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 buybuy BABYs, the news report notes.
“Millions of clients have trusted us throughout the most important milestones in their lives, from going to university to getting married, moving into a new home and having a baby,” recalled its president and CEO, Sue Gove, who promised that they will continue working to maximize the benefit of all shareholders.
Bed Bath & Beyond specified that the bankruptcy declaration has been made voluntarily to carry out an orderly liquidation of its businesses while carrying out “a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets.”
Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy. The company said it will sell its merchandise and then go out of business. https://t.co/9YDZf4Tha2
— CNN in Spanish (@CNNEE) April 23, 2023
The retail chain’s sales fell sharply last year and the company had found it difficult to refinance debts that it was failing to satisfy, it said. EFE.
The firm also experienced strong fluctuations in its stock price, becoming one of the favorite bets of many small investors and speculators who coordinate on internet forums, adds the Spanish agency.
Last February it announced that it was going to sell approximately $1 billion worth of shares to try to avoid bankruptcy. He added that he planned to close some 150 stores, which after previously reported figures would mean closing a total of 400 stores, almost half of what he had a year ago.
Its financial problems drag on since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and are considered to be the cause of the suicide of its financial director last September, the Venezuelan Gustavo Arnal, explains the report.
Among the firm’s difficulties were the shortage of customers both in physical stores and in online sales, supply problems that made it difficult for it to replace some merchandise and, most seriously, not having been able to refinance its debt.
The channel CNBC explained last January that the company had been accumulating debt with different maturities —in 2024, 34 and 44— and had lost a large part of its liquidity, only partially covering those payments, the firm concludes. EFE.
EFE / OnCuba
