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Revlon Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy as the global supply chain crunch proved the tipping point for the debt-laden company that has struggled to tap into a broader cosmetics sales boom driven by social-media influencers, Bloomberg News reported. The bankruptcy caps a tumultuous period for the cosmetics giant, owned by billionaire Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes, which suffered during the pandemic after years of declining sales and endured financial controversies that the company said Thursday could “impede” its restructuring process. At issue is a disputed asset transfer largely in 2020, which saw Revlon stave off default by cutting a deal with lenders that moved collateral out of other creditors’ reach. The financing maneuver angered those who missed out and sparked years of litigation. It also inadvertently embroiled Citigroup Inc. after the bank helped arrange the deal, and later mistakenly paid some creditors nearly $900 million while intending to process a routine interest payment. That marked one of the industry’s most legendary snafus — leading to ongoing litigation over ownership of the $500 million not returned by recipients. The company said in court filings Thursday that the resulting “uncertainty” over who holds a slew of term loans “is likely to impede” the chapter 11 process.

President Joe Biden signed legislation yesterday meant to lower the cost of shipping goods across oceans, a move the White House says will help ease logistical costs for retailers that have remained high since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and helped fuel record inflation, the Associated Press reported. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act passed unanimously by the Senate via voice vote in March after winning bipartisan House support. It empowers the Federal Maritime Commission to investigate late fees charged by carriers while prohibiting ocean carriers and marine terminals from refusing to fill available cargo space. The president also has stressed that a concentration of corporate shipping power in the hands of a few large companies has fed higher shipping costs in ways that hurt businesses and exacerbate problems with inflation. “These carriers made $190 billion in profit in 2021, seven times higher than the year before,” Biden said.

Revlon Inc. filed for bankruptcy, potentially ending a decades-long bet on the beauty products company by Ronald Perelman, its billionaire controlling shareholder, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Perelman bought Revlon in 1985 and built a reputation for always riding to its rescue when its future looked bleak, often through rescue loans or cash infusions. Now he faces losing control of the cosmetics business as it confronts a heavy debt load, inflation and supply-chain pressures and competitive threats. Revlon filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Wednesday. The move to reorganize gives Revlon a chance to shed debt and chart a path forward for the business, which was in talks with certain lenders ahead of the chapter 11 filing. The New York-based company is among the last remaining holdings of Mr. Perelman, a private-equity financier whose deal for Revlon was one of the original high-profile leveraged buyouts. His investment firm, MacAndrews & Forbes Inc., owns roughly 85% of the business, which his daughter Debra Perelman runs as chief executive. Revlon narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2020 after lockdowns emptied malls, salons and spas nationwide. Sales are now rebounding, but the company also is contending with a debt load of roughly $3.3 billion as of March, according to securities filings. Revlon found itself in a bind for years with too much debt, according to analysts, and lost some of its gloss as consumer habits changed and new competition emerged. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened matters by sapping consumer traffic in key shopping areas.

Americans trimmed their spending unexpectedly in May compared with a month before, underscoring how surging inflation on daily necessities like gas is causing them to be more cautious about buying discretionary items, the Associated Press reported. U.S. retail sales slipped 0.3% last month, down from a revised 0.7% increase in April, the Commerce Department said yesterday. A sharp decline in auto sales, largely because of higher prices and shortages of new car inventories, depressed the retail sales figure. Excluding autos, retail sales actually rose 0.5% last month. But excluding sales from gas stations, retail sales slipped 0.7%, showing how higher prices at the pump are accounting for more of shoppers’ overall spending. The report also highlighted shoppers’ pullback on some of the products that were in hot demand during the height of the pandemic but are now falling out of favor. Sales fell roughly 1% for furniture and home furnishings stores and electronic and appliance retailers. Building and garden supply stores, as well as general merchandise retailers, are also showing signs of a sales slowdown.

U.S. producer prices surged 10.8% in May from a year earlier, underscoring the ongoing threat to the economy from inflation that shows no sign of slowing, the Associated Press reported. Yesterday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose at slightly slower pace last month than in April, when it jumped 10.9% from a year earlier, and is down from an 11.5% yearly gain in March. On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 0.8% in May from April, above the previous month, when they increased 0.4%. Energy prices, led by gas, rose 5% just in May from April. Another big driver of the price gains last month was a sharp 2.9% increase in the cost of truck freight hauling, a sign that supply chain problems still aren’t fully resolved. Food costs were unchanged.

Revlon Inc. is preparing to file for chapter 11 protection as soon as next week after struggling for years with too much debt, stiff competition in the cosmetics business and more recent inflation and supply-chain pressures, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The cosmetics maker, owned by billionaire Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes, has been in restructuring talks with top-ranking lenders ahead of debt maturities that begin next year. A bankruptcy filing could end Mr. Perelman’s control of Revlon, which his private-equity firm bought in 1985. The situation is fluid and a chapter 11 filing isn’t certain, a person familiar with the matter said. Revlon shares dropped 53% on Friday to $2.05 a share. Sales rebounded by 8% in the latest quarter as consumer shopping habits returned closer to pre-pandemic levels. But the company’s outlook is still challenged by its need to raise capital for liquidity needs, according to an April report by S&P Global Ratings. Reorg Research earlier reported that Revlon was planning to file for bankruptcy. The company’s nearest upcoming debt maturity is in September 2023 and involves an $866 million loan that was paid off by accident in 2020 by administrative agent Citigroup Inc. with its own money rather than Revlon’s. Some lenders gave the money back to Citi, but others kept roughly $500 million of the accidental payment.

Port congestion should ease next year as new container vessels are delivered and demand from shippers softens from pandemic highs, but not enough to restore global supply-chain flows to where they were before Covid, according to the head of DHL’s freight-forwarding unit, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s going to ease in 2023, but it’s not going to go back to 2019,” DHL Global Forwarding, Freight Chief Executive Officer Tim Scharwath said in an interview Wednesday. “I don’t think we’re going to go back to this overcapacity situation where rates were very low. Infrastructure, especially in the U.S., isn’t going to get better overnight, because infrastructure developments take a long time.” Coronavirus outbreaks and related restrictions led to a shortage of workers and truckers at several major ports around the world last year, slowing the movement of goods in and out of freight hubs and pushing container shipping rates to record highs. Spot prices to Los Angeles from China jumped more than eightfold to as high as $12,424 in September from the end of 2019. While the situation has eased in most places as workers return, further stress on the supply chain could materialize as the key port of Shanghai tentatively emerges from a two-month lockdown and cargo backlogs there are cleared. “The Shanghai situation was like a clog in a pipe,” Scharwath said. The city is “smart to open up slowly to make sure that this clog goes out piece by piece and bit by bit to get the flow running.”

The developer of American Dream, the $6 billion mega-shopping mall in East Rutherford, N.J., has failed to make its semiannual interest payment for an $800 million municipal bond, according to a notice to bondholders on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bondholder trustee U.S. Bank NA said that developer Triple Five Group didn’t deposit funds for an interest payment due Wednesday and bondholders were paid from an $11.35 million debt service reserve account. Triple Five didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The trustee said it notified the developer to make the payment by June 16 to avoid a default. Banks and bondholders lent about $2.7 billion to build American Dream, the country’s second-largest mall. After many years of construction delays, the sprawling shopping mall and entertainment center near the Meadowlands Sports Complex opened in October 2019 under its third owner, Canada’s Triple Five. The coronavirus pandemic caused it to shut down a few months later, before reopening in October 2020.

Cosmetics maker Revlon Inc. has begun talks with lenders ahead of looming maturities of debt to try to steer the business clear of bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A group of lenders including Angelo Gordon, Glendon Capital Management LP and King Street Capital Management are in restructuring discussions with Revlon about pushing out the due date on roughly $1.7 billion in debt that matures as early as 2024. Centerview Partners is advising the lender group on negotiations, alongside legal counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, the people familiar said. The lender group holds as its collateral certain intellectual-property assets that Revlon pledged to them in a 2020 deal that drew criticism from some hedge funds. Revlon, which has struggled with the increasing popularity of new brands from social-media influencers such as Kylie Jenner and others, narrowly escaped bankruptcy in 2020 when it faced down another debt maturity as masked-up, stuck-at-home consumers cut back on makeup and accessories during the pandemic. Sales and earnings have rebounded in recent quarters as consumer shopping habits returned closer to prepandemic levels. But the company’s outlook is still challenged given its need to raise capital for liquidity needs, S&P Global Ratings said in April.