Claire’s: How could the proposed plan pass?
No experience with distressed, but was reading through the Claire’s disclosure and was confused about how Apollo and the 1st lien creditors could reasonably expect to pass a plan which seems so favorable to both parties.
In particular, I’m confused about a) why a judge would ever approve a marketing process which required a full cash payout to creditors and b) how the judge could be convinced that the new preferred securities contemplated by the plan are the best financing option for the company, as they seem highly favorable to Apollo given the 35% discount and accrual option for coupons (which as I understand could compound their stake over time). The make whole provisions on the new term loan and preferred also seem unusually onerous; I read them as requiring anyone taking out the securities to pay the full principal, plus the PV of all future interest payments discounted at a very low rate (treasury + 50bps). The breakup fee for the backstop parties also seems high.
Essentially, I don’t understand how plans like this get approved. From what I understand, it has to meet standards to be crammed down over the objections of the 2nd liens - are those standards so low this could pass? Still a student, so kind of just looking for general color on the situation. It seems like this should be a straightforward situation where Claire’s could easily raise ~$400-$500mm in new debt with standard terms, and give the equity to the 1st lien and maybe some to the 2nd lien (depending on the valuation). After all, the company operations are still fairly healthy (~$200mm in EBITDA with stable margins).
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