Fashion-brands owner the Collected Group won court approval for a bankruptcy exit plan that will keep its largest shareholder, KKR & Co., in charge after a deal with unsecured creditors, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Chino, Calif.-based Collected Group is the design and distribution force behind the Joie, Current/Elliott and Equipment apparel labels, which are sold through department stores and, before the pandemic, in some of its own retail stores and online. Online sales once accounted for roughly 19% of the group’s sales, but in 2020, with shoppers in quarantine, some 50% of Collected Group’s sales were sold online, court papers say. Private-equity giant KKR, which is Collected Group’s largest equity stakeholder and secured lender, will swap secured debt for equity in a reorganization that will leave the company with $155 million less in secured debt. Junior creditors will get a chance to share between $1 million to $2 million under the plan confirmed yesterday by Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein. Junior creditors also won other concessions as part of a settlement that enlisted their support for a restructuring that will keep Collected Group in operation.
