The decision by five investment companies to pull the plug on a Toys “R” Us reorganization earlier this year is coming under fire from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Wall Street Journal reported. In a letter to the companies yesterday, Warren asked why the investment firms had pressed to liquidate the retailer amid viable options to reorganize it and she urged them to contribute to a fund benefiting laid-off employees. The letter went to executives at Solus Alternative Asset Management, Angelo Gordon & Co., Franklin Mutual Advisors, Highland Capital and Oaktree Capital, the five major holders of a crucial stake in Toys “R” Us debt. Warren also sent a letter requesting that Vornado Realty Trust, a former owner of Toys “R” Us, contribute to the former employee fund. Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in September 2017 intending to reorganize. But last March, the five investment funds ended that effort, even though the bankruptcy court heard testimony that there were “real people, credible institutions, engaged in a serious discussion around potentially reorganizing the company.”
