New Chapter 11 Filing - hhgregg Inc.

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hhgregg Inc.

  • 3/6/17 Recap: Indianapolis-based (and formerly publicly-traded - HGGG) brick-and-mortar retailer of appliances, consumer electronics, home products (read: all things that millennials don't buy) FINALLY filed for bankruptcy after an endless barrage of negative news stories, including reports of 88 store closures. The company's distress - brought on by trends afflicting the retail space generally and repeated to death in each and every retail bankruptcy filing, e.g., declining mall traffic, onerous leases, etc., - was exacerbated by its credit card program with Synchrony Bank and the need to post letters of credit to collateralize Synchrony's acquired receivables ($3mm paid, another $14mm owed). Note: there's a commentary here about consumer lending. The filing is intended to enable the company to continue with store closing sales and potentially find a buyer for its remaining locations.
  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Indiana
  • Capital Structure: $300mm '21 credit facility ($56mm out)(Wells Fargo)     
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Neil Herman, Rachel Jaffe Mauceri, Benjamin Cordiano, Katherine Lindsay, Matthew Ziegler, Michaela Dragalin) & (local) Ice Miller LLP (Jeffrey Hokanson, Sarah Fowler)
    • Financial Advisor: Berkeley Research Group (Robert Duffy)
    • Investment Banker: Stifel & Miller Buckfire & Co. (James Doak)
    • Liquidators: Hilco Merchant Resources LLC (Ian Fredericks) and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC (Michael Chartock) 
      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Patrick Nash, Bradley Weiland, Timothy Bow)
    • Real Estate Advisor: Hilco Real Estate LLC (Ryan Lawlor)
    • Asset Disposition Advisor: Malfitano Advisors LLC (Joseph Malfitano)
    • Claims Agent: Donlin Recano (*click on company name for free docket)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • Agent for Prepetition Secured Lender & DIP Lender: Wells Fargo
      • Legal: Choate Hall & Stewart LLP (John Ventola, Sean Monahan, Jonathan Marshall) & Faegre Baker Daniels LLP (Jay Jaffe, Terry Hall)
    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
      • Legal: Cooley LLP (Cathy Hershcopf, Seth Van Aalten, Richelle Kalnit, Robert Winning, Melissa Boyd) & (local) Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP (Whitney Mosby, Thomas Scherer, James Irving)
      • Financial Advisor: Province Inc. (Stilian Morrison)

Updated 4/3/17