💥Tarnished Platinum💥

SVP Worldwide, a Yellow Update, Water Gremlin Company & More

👍 Winners of the Week+ 👍

1. Neiman Marcus. Consumer spending remains surprisingly strong — especially among higher income earners — but amidst signs of declining consumer confidence …

Source: Conference Board

… and clear cut data that a lot of that spending is directed towards services rather than goods, it makes sense for retailers to be proactive about their capital structures to allow time for post-pandemic trends to continue to shake out. With this as a backdrop, Neiman Marcus amended and extended its post-reorg Bank of America-agented $900mm ABL facility, pushing out the maturity from 9/24 to 10/28. Performance at the department store retailer reportedly hasn’t been great. For the quarter ended July 31, the retailer generated negative $37.5mm in EBITDA, down over $60mm on a YOY basis. With the ABL and cash on hand, the retailer still has plenty of cash. But it is also an issuer wrapped up in the upcoming “maturity wall,” with $1.1b of 7.125% notes due in ‘26 (pricing low-to-mid-90s). One thing to look out for: there is a springing maturity of the ABL tied to the notes.

2. RX Pros Sick of Managing Crypto Cases. The crypto cases all filed around the same time and now they’re all arriving at (or at least nearer to) a resolution at the same time. This week Core Scientific Inc. ($CORZQ) announced that it now has a restructuring term sheet with an ad hoc noteholder group and an official equity committee regarding the terms of a chapter 11 plan of reorganization. Meanwhile Bittrex Inc. obtained bankruptcy court approval of its liquidation plan; it had been poised to duke things out with the US Securities and Exchange Commission before the parties ultimately settled for $24mm late in the summer (a figure that, it appears, the debtors will be able to pay, at least in part, due to KYC-phobic customers). And, finally, Celsius Network LLC intends to become a publicly-traded bitcoin mining firm but needs regulatory guidance as to whether that plan is viable. Judge Martin Glenn nudged the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawyers to decide expeditiously. He, like all of the lawyers and advisors we know who have had it up to their eyeballs with crypto, likely wants “out” just as much if not more than anyone else.

3. Carvana Co ($CVNA) Stock Holders. Whoa boy, we’re so back: