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Nine West Holdings Inc. and its creditors are closing in on a deal to restructure almost $1.5 billion of debt that would include filing for bankruptcy and selling off parts of the shoe and clothing retailer, Bloomberg News reported. The plan hinges on asset sales to pay off creditors, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Nine West would seek chapter 11 court protection with a restructuring plan agreed upon in advance by its creditors. The goal is to file before a March 15 interest payment, according to sources. Nine West, led by interim Chief Executive Officer Ralph Schipani, doesn’t have any debt maturing until 2019, but then it would have to refinance around $1 billion, including a term loan, an asset-based revolver and unsecured bonds. The retailer has one of the highest leverage ratios in the industry, with debt exceeding 19 times adjusted earnings, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Nine West has been negotiating with its creditors at least since last year, when lenders and bondholders organized with advisers.

Sears Holdings Corp. yesterday unveiled a series of proposed deals to replace current debt obligations held by its chief executive and outside investors with new securities payable in debt rather than cash, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer said that it would ask holders of roughly $930 million in bonds maturing through 2019 to swap their claims for new convertible debt that can be paid in kind, meaning through new debt, at Sears’ discretion. Fitch Ratings Inc. said it viewed the proposed transactions as a distressed-debt exchange and downgraded Sears yesterday to C, the lowest ratings notch above outright default. Roughly $600 million of those bonds were held by either Sears CEO Edward Lampert and his investment fund ESL Investments Inc. or by longtime company backer Fairholme Capital Management as of last January, according to previous Sears securities filings. It wasn’t clear if those holdings had changed since then.

Toys ‘R’ Us Inc. is planning to close about 180 U.S. stores as part of a reorganization plan to emerge from its September bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The move to shutter about 20 percent of its U.S. store base, which needs court approval, comes four months after the world’s largest toy chain filed for protection from its creditors, a response to years of lackluster results and an unsustainable $5 billion debt load. The closures will begin next month, with Babies ‘R’ Us locations accounting for at least half. Toys ‘R’ Us had a challenging Christmas shopping season in the U.S. and overseas, Chief Executive Officer Dave Brandon wrote in a letter to employees that was obtained by Bloomberg News. While the bankruptcy hurt customer confidence and disrupted other parts of the business, the company has made operational mistakes that need to be fixed, he said.

A March 1 court date is set in Los Angeles to discuss a plan for the parent company of Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles to emerge from bankruptcy, NBC Los Angeles reported. East Coast Foods Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection in March 2016 after the company was ordered to pay $3.2 million to a former employee who won a wrongful termination and discrimination lawsuit against the soul food chain. East Coast Foods estimated in court filings that it has debts between $10 million and $50 million with assets of less than $50,000. "There is a now a plan that could end this case and pay all the creditors 100 percent — which is rare," said attorney Robert Marticello. Marticello said that he anticipates that it will take six years to execute the plan and completely pay all creditors.

In retail, some brands that could no longer cut it with brick-and-mortar stores are getting a second wind in the digital world, according to a commentary in the Philadelphia Enquirer. The notion of the “zombie retailer” really came into vogue after the bankruptcy of Circuit City in 2008, Brown said. Though the retailer was liquidated, its intellectual property was bought in 2016 and the brand reemerged as an online consumer electronics retailer. Retail analyst Simeon Siegel, executive director at Nomura/Instinet Equity Research, said pure e-tailers’ physical stores validate the brick-and-mortar strategy. But “it is clear that certain companies may simply not be able to sustain them. And if a company has no stores, it will have shed itself of painful fixed expense (i.e., rent).”

Struggling retailer Bon-Ton Stores Inc. is continuing discussions with its debtholders as it prepares for a likely bankruptcy filing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company is working on signing a forbearance agreement with its bondholders through the end of January. There is the possibility the forbearance agreement could be extended beyond late January, though a bankruptcy filing is expected as soon as February, according to sources. The company has been trying to persuade bondholders that there are private-equity firms who are willing to put in capital to save the company, the sources said. Law firm Paul Weiss has reportedly been hired to advise the company, which had disclosed last year that it hired advisers AlixPartners LLP and PJT Partners Inc. as it grapples with its $987 million debt load.

Ronny Shmoel, a New York businessman who bought the Circuit City brand, domain name and associated trademarks in October 2015, plans to relaunch the website next month selling consumer electronics merchandise, the Richmond Times reported. Shmoel announced on Monday that his plans for bringing back Circuit City will begin with the launch of “a dynamic, social-focused e-commerce site” on Feb. 15. Shmoel said that the company would then expand operations by opening kiosks, stores within other stores, and eventually its own showrooms, according to TWICE, a consumer electronics industry publication. He didn’t provide specific details.

San Antonio-based women’s apparel and accessories retailer A’Gaci filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, seeking to reorganize its $62 million in debt amid poor financial performance on a failed expansion, hurricanes and other troubles, the San Antonio Express-News reported. A’Gaci is seeking bankruptcy court approval to close 49 of its 78 stores, a bankruptcy court filing shows. Twenty-one of its 34 stores in Texas are on the closure list. David Won, A’Gaci’s chief merchandising officer, couched the store closings by saying that some could remain open if it’s able to negotiate more favorable lease terms and rent reductions from landlords.