Ronald Perelman’s Revlon Inc. will likely pursue a debt restructuring that hands ownership of the company to lenders and wipes out stockholders, according to an agreement between the bankrupt cosmetics giant and two key creditor groups.
The company entered a restructuring support agreement with a critical lender group and its official committee of unsecured creditors on Monday, filings show. The deal calls for doling out ownership stakes in Revlon to secured lenders, while mostly wiping out the company’s lowest-ranking creditors and leaving existing stockholders with nothing.
The agreement assumes Revlon will seek bankruptcy court approval of the plan to hand ownership to lenders in the coming months, but allows the company to sell itself instead if a deep-pocketed buyer is found. Under the deal, Revlon must submit the plan to its bankruptcy judge this week and exit Chapter 11 protection in April.
Revlon filed for bankruptcy in June after a more than $3.5 billion debt load proved too burdensome. The company, owned by billionaire Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes, has struggled in recent years to keep up with newer brands.
The creditor agreement comes the same day that a long-running battle between Citigroup Inc. and some Revlon lenders over an accidental $900 million debt repayment finally came to a close. A lawsuit related to the fight was formally dismissed Monday after holdout lenders agreed to return their share of the mistaken payment.
Revlon shares surged nearly 300 percent on Monday to as high as $1.37 before quickly falling back below $1. The stock has, at times, been popular among retail traders despite its bankruptcy filing.
The bankruptcy is Revlon Inc., 22-10760, US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
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It was a slow decline for the 90-year-old company, which found itself crippled by massive debt, a pandemic, supply chain issues and growing competition from start-up brands changing beauty ideals and culture.
