The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has confirmed a QVC Group prepackaged financial restructuring plan, one developed with and supported by a significant majority of its lenders and noteholders, the company announced.
The reorganized enterprise will emerge from the court-supervised process once it satisfies remaining customary conditions, QVC reported. On emergence, QVC stated, corporate total debt will fall from $6.6 billion to $1.33 billion, and all vendors will have their claims paid in full or reinstated. The company asserted that, with a manageable amount of debt, it will have greater financial flexibility to pursue long-term growth and profitability as a leader in live social shopping across social platforms, streaming apps, e-commerce sites, television channels and stores.
QVC Group has continued operating as a publicly traded company throughout the reorganization process. With its emergence from Chapter 11, QVC’s existing shares of preferred and common stock will cancel out, and the reorganized company’s newly-issued shares of common stock will replace them, according to the company. The shares will list on a national securities exchange under the symbol QVCG as a publicly traded company. QVC expects the reorganized company to have a new $600 million line of credit on emergence to support its working capital needs and general corporate purposes.
“Today marks a significant turning point for our company and positions us to emerge from Chapter 11 ready to win in live social shopping,” said David Rawlinson, QVC president and CEO (pictured above). “With significantly less debt, we can focus on what matters most, creating uniquely inspiring live social shopping experiences for our customers. We will continue to build on the success we’ve already achieved under our ‘WIN Growth Strategy’ and capture future opportunities for long-term growth.”
