Interesting Restructuring News

April 25, 2017 PETITION

Financial Services. Ocwen Financial Corp. got pummeled this week with fresh allegations.

Healthcare. Suddenly the space is looking increasingly distressed - and this doesn't even take into account Adeptus Health Inc. or Halt Medical Inc. (see case summaries in "Cases").

Investing. Looks like Intelsat jacked up distressed debt returns. Too bad, for some, that EFH jerked em' right back down.

Manufacturing/3D-Printing. Holy sh*t. Is there anything Amazon doesn't touch?

Oil & Gas. Sort of telling when Saudi Arabia is making a $50b push towards renewables. And also telling that new owners are already looking to shop assets post-BK (Stone Energy). At least some are already worried about another wave of distressed E&P based on revolver drawdowns. But US-based shale-focused private equity doesn't appear to have gotten the memo.

Pharma/Hedge Fund Hotels. We enjoyed this summary of Bill Ackman's involvement in Valeant. And this piece discussing Marc Cohodes' short-strategy vis-a-vis Concordia International.

Private Equity. These guys are making bigger and bolder moves into tech - though there is a "mixed record" there (citing Avaya, for instance)(firewall).

Fast Forward. With Agent Provocateur (amusing write-up below, if we do say so ourselves) going bankrupt and L Brands (Victoria's Secret) reporting dogsh*t numbers last quarter, we figured we'd look at the lingerie space for a hot second and we found a lot of action. And it ain't good for the incumbents. It'll be interesting to see if Aerie's omnichannel strategy pays off - bold move to double down on physical stores these days - when Amazon looms right around the corner.

Rewind I: Groupon. As we foreshadowed might happen, Groupon dropped this bomb on Good Friday while markets were closed - a banal and cynical PR trick to try and avoid a bad news cycle.

Rewind II: Sun Capital Partners. We have been beating up on Sun Capital Partners as its retail portfolio just gets uglier and uglier (see now Marsh Supermarkets, which has apparently hired Hilco to explore strategic options, and Vince, which got itself a recent downgrade). Perhaps CVC Capital Partners and Leonard Green & Partners have gotten the memo; the two PE firms appear to be exploring a sale of BJ's Wholesale Club which, in turn, probably means that any plans of an IPO are on hold.

Rewind III. We previously noted the increasing power of platforms in retail. Rue21, expected by many to file for bankruptcy in the near-term, announced a visual virtual stylist on Facebook Messenger this past week, allegedly leveraging AI in the process.