Portrait Innovations Inc.

• 9/1/17 Recap: Remember professional portrait studios? Yeah, we don't either. Mostly because we haven't stepped foot in a mixed-use commercial location or traditional retail park since we got linked up to the internet 20 years ago. And that is predominantly where you'd find a Portrait Innovations studio: there are 119 of them in 31 states (including 3 studios in Walmart Supercenters). You know the story by now: with a significant decline of brick-and-mortar retail visitors comes decreased revenue...blah blah blah, bankruptcy. Here, management attempted to stave off the inevitable by negotiating rent forgiveness, closing underperforming locations (63, to be exact), and pursuing the positive, i.e., more Walmart studios. In the absence of flex by the landlords, management lacked the capital, however, to accomplish these goals. The bankruptcy filing is meant to effectuate a sale of the equity to a buyer and further reconcile leases. The company has secured a stalking horse bid from prepetition creditor, CapitalSouth Partners, and a $5mm DIP credit facility to fund the cases. 
• Jurisdiction: W.D. of North Carolina (Judge Whitley)
• Capital Structure: $15mm senior secured debt (CapitalSouth Partners SBIC Fund III LP)     
• Company Professionals:
  • Legal: Rayburn Cooper & Durham PA (John Miller Jr., Paul Baynard, Benjamin Shook)
  • Investment Banker: Piper Jaffray & Co.
  • Real Estate Advisor: Hilco Real Estate LLC
  • Claims Agent: Rust Consulting/Omni Bankruptcy (*click on company name above for free docket access)
• Other Parties in Interest:
  • Secured Creditor/DIP Lender/Bidder: CapitalSouth Partners SBIC Fund III LP
    • Legal: K&L Gates LLP (Charles A. Dale III, Aaron Rothman, Margaret Westbrook)

Updated 9/18/17 5:15 pm CT