Partner Erika Morabito was quoted in The Wall Street Journal article, “Pier 1 Imports Gets $20 Million Offer for Branding, Online Business,” about the home-goods retailer’s bankruptcy and a potential buyer for its intellectual property and e-commerce business as its physical retail operations wind down.
Pier 1 has found a potential buyer for it’s intellectual property, data and other assets related to the e-commerce business and plans to hold a bankruptcy auction this week. The proceeds from a potential sale will go to Pier 1’s senior lenders and the estate won’t be required to pay any costs associated with the transaction, said Morabito, who is representing the committee for Pier 1’s unsecured creditors.
“From the [committee’s] perspective, we want as much money as possible to flow through the waterfall to be paid to those who are able to participate in such recovery,” Morabito said.
Pier 1, which had about 940 stores at the beginning of the year, said in early January that it planned to close nearly half of them. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in February.