A group of lenders owed more than $1.4 billion by Dressbarn’s owner — Ascena Retail Group — is getting nervous that it won’t get its money back, The Post has learned.
Mahwah, NJ-based Ascena, which also owns Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant and tween retailer Justice, has not returned the lenders’ calls and emails for at least a month, raising concerns about whether the publicly traded company is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Nonetheless, no payments have been missed by Ascena.
“It’s been radio silence from Ascena and the lenders are just spooked at this point,” the source said. The company is in the midst of shutting down 57-year-old Dressbarn.
As The Post exclusively reported on July 2, the company has been trying to shutter the chain by demanding landlords for Dressbarn’s 650 stores release them from their lease obligations — or face off against Dressbarn in bankruptcy court.
If landlords balk, however, Dressbarn will be on the hook for $302 million in rent obligations, the source said.
In May, Ascena hired A&G Realty Partners to handle the lease negotiations. Landlords were presented with two options: Dressbarn will stay open until August and pay rent through October — or operate stores through December and pay rent for the rest of the year.
“We have received overwhelming landlord support for our plan,” Steven Taylor, chief financial officer of Dressbarn, said in a statement July 19, adding that 53 stores are slated to close by the end of August.
But the company has not disclosed any detailed information since July 19, lenders said. It also declined to comment for this article.
“I thought we would know by now the financial impact of the Dressbarn closures,” B Riley FBR analyst Susan Anderson told The Post. “It’s taking longer than we would have thought.”
Compounding lenders’ fears are unsolved questions over the $210 million they were supposed to get after Ascena sold a majority stake in its discount chain Maurices in May. The proceeds from that sale were earmarked to pay down Ascena’s debt, but the lenders have not seen a dime of it yet, according to the source. It is unclear if there was a deadline for that payment to be made.
As Ascena’s stock continues to deteriorate — its shares have been trading below $1 since early June, closing down 9.2 percent on Friday to 26 cents a share — lenders are questioning whether Ascena is going to keep a greater portion of the proceeds.
“Why would you pay down your debt if you know you are going to file for bankruptcy,?” the source said.
Last month, the lending group made up of some 40 lenders, including Franklin Resources, Eaton Vance, Lord Abbett, and Greywolf Capital, retained Milbank as legal counsel because of all the uncertainty over what the company might do next.
Ascena has already raised the specter that it could put Dressbarn into bankruptcy, but industry experts say the company may also be weighing putting the entire business into Chapter 11 to reduce its debt and shed more leases of poorly performing stores.
The company, which generated $6.6 billion in revenues last year, has interviewed restructuring law firms Weil Gotshal & Manges and Kirkland & Ellis, according to the source.
“A potential bankruptcy could be a ways off,” Anderson said, “but if they can’t shut down Dressbarn without paying a lot of money,” that’s a big concern.
Meanwhile, Ascena is hoping to raise some extra cash when bids are due on Sept. 5 for Dressbarn’s intellectual property. The majority of its customers are over 50, and sales have been steadily declining by more than 23 percent over the past several years to an estimated $740 million this year.
“Other potential buyers of the customer list like Avenue are in bankruptcy,” said distressed debt expert Adam Stein-Sapir. “Dressbarn is widely considered to be a poor brand name.”