Nine West Holdings Inc.’s independent directors find themselves in a quandary, caught between creditors of a bankrupt retailer and the private-equity owners accused of sinking its business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Alan Miller and Harvey Tepner, who joined Nine West’s board of directors around the time it began exploring a potential bankruptcy, have emerged as focal points in a chapter 11 standoff involving Sycamore Partners, a private-equity firm known for generating returns in retail where other investors have failed. Nine West has a proposed deal with its owner Sycamore Partners and another private-equity sponsor that requires them to kick in $105 million to pay back creditors and lift the retailer out of chapter 11. Some unsecured bondholders see that as a pittance compared to how much money they say Sycamore made off Nine West during and after a 2014 leveraged buyout.
