On April 26, 2021, Century 21 Department Stores’ Plan of Liquidation was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Lowenstein represented the official committee of unsecured creditors. The Debtors’ plan of liquidation and the projected recovery for unsecured creditors resulted from the global settlement agreement negotiated by the Committee in which the Debtors’ former equity holders purchased the Debtors’ claims against their insurers for $59 million, the Debtors’ estates retained their interests in 10 percent of the proceeds received by the equity holders in excess of $75 million, and the Debtors and their estates released all claims against the equity holders.
As a result of the settlement, the projected recoveries to unsecured creditors doubled, from as low as 15.7 percent (assuming no litigation success) to 30-40 percent.
With the repurchase by its former owners of the brand’s intellectual property, Century 21 Department Stores is poised to reopen in 2021.
The Lowenstein team was led by Jeffrey Cohen, Lynda A. Bennett, Michael A. Kaplan, Brent Weisenberg, Joseph M. Saka, Lindsay H. Sklar, Jeremy D. Merkin, and Rasmeet K. Chahil.
Read the Global Legal Chronicle's coverage here.
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