Blackstone Group Inc. and Starwood Capital Group’s proposed takeover of Extended Stay America Inc. is expected to pass a shareholder vote Friday despite opposition from some of its investors, Bloomberg News reported. Early results show that investors in the lodging company will approve the deal. The figures are preliminary, and shareholders could still change their vote ahead of the meeting Friday. The vote as of Thursday was extremely close. The private equity firms agreed to buy Extended Stay in March for $19.50 a share, boosting their offer by $1 per share after opposition from six shareholders, including Tarsadia Capital, which campaigned to block the deal. Tarsadia and some other investors continued to oppose the deal despite the price increase, arguing that the sales process was flawed, the timing was wrong, and the standalone prospects for the company were better than the value being offered.
The troubled owner of Jessica Simpson’s brand is nearing a deal to sell its majority stake in the fashion line back to the singer and offload other assets as part of a potential chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg News reported. Sequential Brands Group Inc. had been seeking to sell off its assets to avoid a cash crunch while it negotiated with creditors, but is now preparing to unload its brands under a process that will likely take place in court. The company would use proceeds from the sales to pay back creditors including its largest lender KKR & Co. Sequential owns and licenses a portfolio of consumer labels including the Gaiam yoga line, AND1 and Joe’s Jeans. It sold the Heelys brand for $11 million in April. KKR and other lenders recently extended a waiver of existing loan defaults through July 8. Sequential has been under forbearance with its lenders since late 2020 after it said it wouldn’t be able to meet certain financial metrics required under its debt agreement due to the pandemic. Retailers and brands across the country have suffered from the impact of COVID-19 and related store shutdowns. More than 20 sought bankruptcy protection last year.
