Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is preparing a bankruptcy filing for as early as this weekend as its falling stock price makes it near impossible to raise enough capital to avert default, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The embattled retailer recently said it needed to raise $300 million from share sales by April 26 to stay out of chapter 11. The company will have to stop selling stock by that date, when it would lose eligibility to continue under its share registration documents. Given the stock’s closing price on Wednesday of 46 cents, Bed Bath & Beyond faces long odds to raise that amount of money within that time. As of April 10, Bed Bath & Beyond had raised $48.5 million from its latest stock-sale effort. At the time, it had 178 million shares available to sell, which would only net the company about $70 million or $80 million given the stock’s recent trading prices. The retailer has warned that if it isn’t able to raise capital through its equity offering, it would have to file for bankruptcy and likely liquidate its assets. Bloomberg reported earlier Wednesday that Bed Bath & Beyond had resumed preparing for bankruptcy. The home-goods retailer’s business has been deteriorating. Bed Bath & Beyond in preliminary results reported a decline in comparable-store sales of 40% to 50% in the quarter that ended Feb. 25.
