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PetSmart Inc. tried a second time to amend its agreement with lenders as it seeks to quell investor concerns over a disputed asset transfer, Bloomberg News reported. The pet superstore made a revised offer yesterday to reimburse senior lenders if it monetizes a 20 percent equity stake of its Chewy.com unit that it had moved. PetSmart also sweetened its initial offer by improving the consent margin and committing that 100 percent of future sales of any PetSmart asset would be used to repay consenting lenders. That’s up from the previous 50 percent pledge. Lenders have until tonight to decide whether they approve of the change. The company could also accelerate that deadline if it passes a 51 percent holder consent threshold, the people said.  due 2022 climbed as much as 3 cents on the dollar to around 93, according to people familiar with the trading. Company unsecured notes due 2023 and 2025 were among the top performers in the U.S. high-yield market, rising nearly three cents on the dollar, according to Trace bond data.

Sears’s loyalty program, Shop Your Way, is considered one of the most generous rewards programs in the business, one that persists, zombie-like, despite the company’s financial woes, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Other retailers don’t even come close,” says Michelle Price, business-development manager for Hip2save.com, a deal-tracking website. Shoppers earn $1 in points for every $100 they spend at Sears and its sister chain Kmart. Sears also offers cash back, sometimes in the equivalent amount of the purchase, for instance, giving $60 in credits back to a shopper who spends $60. And there are free cash bonuses in which Sears simply gives shoppers money, notifying them by text or email. Unlike some other retailers that require people to pay with a store card to earn rewards, Sears shoppers can use any type of payment.

Struggling Italian luxury house Roberto Cavalli has shuttered its North American operations, hours after the brand said that it was seeking a deal with creditors to stave off a bankruptcy filing and less than a week after the departure of its creative director, Paul Surridge, the New York Times reported. The brand confirmed on Friday that it intended to file a plan with Italian courts that would allow the business to keep running while it secured new investors or ownership. The fashion house, headquartered in Florence and famous for its flesh-baring, flamboyant designs (often in animal prints), has fallen from favor with its fan base in recent years, struggling to turn around falling sales and to maintain its profile in an increasingly competitive global luxury market dominated by the major conglomerates. The Italian private equity company Clessidra has owned a 90 percent stake in Cavalli since 2015. A Cavalli spokesman confirmed today that Art Fashion Corporation, the name of the brand’s North American subsidiary, would liquidate under chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by April 4 as part of a restructuring effort.

U.S. retail sales fell in February, as consumers pulled back their spending on building materials, groceries, furniture, electronics and clothing amid signs of a slowing economy, the Associated Press reported. The Commerce Department said today that retail sales fell 0.2 percent in February, after posting an upwardly revised gain 0.7 percent in January. Over the past year, retail sales have roughly kept pace with inflation by increasing a slight 2.2 percent. Sales at building materials stores plunged 4.4 percent in February. Electronics retailers and grocers posted declines of more than 1 percent. Department stores, clothiers and furniture shops also suffered a setback in sales. Still, auto sales rebounded slightly in February after a sharp drop in January. And non-store retailers, a category that includes online shopping, enjoyed gains of 0.9 percent in February and 10 percent in the past year.

J. Crew has tapped restructuring lawyers for the second time in as many years to explore options for reworking its debt, as the U.S. clothing chain struggles with falling sales and a dwindling cash pile, Reuters reported. The company's decision to seek help with its debt once again underscores the persistent business challenges J. Crew faces despite recent turnaround and financial restructuring efforts. A shift to pricier apparel turned off some shoppers, and J. Crew faces competition from e-commerce firms such as Amazon that have squeezed an array of traditional retailers. The preppy fashion retailer in recent weeks enlisted restructuring attorneys at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, the law firm that helped negotiate a previous debt workout for the company and most recently steered department store operator Sears through bankruptcy proceedings. J. Crew, which was taken private in 2011 by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners in a roughly $3 billion leveraged buyout, is also interviewing restructuring specialists at investment banks.

Shares of Iconix Brand Group Inc. were down as much as 12 percent yesterday after the licensing company that owns such brands as Joe Boxer, Bongo and Cannon said fallout from the Sears bankruptcy hurt its financial results, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The New York-based business, which licenses many of its brands through major retailers, said Sears’s reorganization reduced revenue for its Joe Boxer and Bongo brands and the Cannon line of home products. Iconix also said that its selling, general and administrative expenses — which include compensation, advertising and professional fees — rose to $121.4 million last year and included an $8.2 million bad-debt charge as a result of Sears’s trip to bankruptcy court, which began in October. Were it not for the Sears’ bad-debt expense, Iconix said, those costs would have fallen.

Aurelius Capital Management, a distressed-debt hedge fund that made successful bets against Puerto Rico and Argentina, has a new target: the struggling luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The hedge fund, which is run by bankruptcy lawyer Mark Brodsky, pushed Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. to add language to its bond documents that would make it easier to profit on bets against the retailer, especially if the company defaults or files for bankruptcy. Neiman Marcus, which has more than $5 billion in debt from two leveraged buyouts, has been in talks for months to convince holders of its bonds and loans to push out repayments to 2023 and 2024. The negotiations gave Aurelius, a Neiman bondholder, an opening to make its demand.

Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. is prepping a debt swap offer to its creditors that will push out maturities on $4.7 billion in debt and give the luxury retailer more breathing room, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company said yesterday that it is ready to launch an offer in April to all its bond and loan holders to amend and extend the debt maturities to 2023 and 2024. Neiman also said holders of more than 60 percent of its bonds and more than 55 percent of its loans already have signed on to support the deal, but the company needs 95 percent of them to agree to complete the transaction. Neiman Marcus’s debt load is the result of two buyouts by private-equity firms. The most recent deal was struck in 2013, when Ares Management Corp. and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired the company for $6 billion. The debt deal calls for a swap of $2.7 billion in loans due in 2020 and about $2 billion in unsecured notes due in 2021 for new loans and notes due in 2023 and 2024, respectively.