Latest Case Studies

After failing to find a going concern buyer for its business, as a function of its bankruptcy, Hilco successfully submitted a joint bid with private equity firm Sycamore Partners to purchase Coldwater Creek. Collectively, Hilco and Sycamore saw opportunity for Coldwater Creek to shed its stores and continue as an e-tailer, in large part due to the goodwill behind the brand. Hilco purchased and sold $250MM worth of inventory and FF&E while ultimately shedding Coldwater Creek’s 366 stores. After the sale, Sycamore was able to leverage Coldwater Creek’s substantial brand equity to relaunch the company as a catalogue and online retailer. Our thesis was correct – Coldwater Creek is still successfully operating today.

In its plans to grow from a regional to a national retailer, Forever 21 identified a need to better address its loss prevention policies and procedures, but was unsure where to start. Hilco offered its deep retail and asset protection experience to partner with Forever 21 to develop a soup to nuts program, including methods to designate high risk stores and individuals, audit and integrity shops, training, awareness, and more. The structure of our program supports Forever 21’s LP practices to this day.

In a unique, first of its kind transaction, Hilco partnered with licensing firm Authentic Brands Group LLC, and mall operators Simon Property Group and General Growth Properties, in a deal that preserved Aeropostale’s ongoing business. On the verge of fully liquidating, Hilco played a pivotal deal-making role in structuring the new entity. The working capital generated from our involvement funded the company through its restructuring and inventory reformatting process, ultimately resulting in 555 reopened stores and thousands of saved jobs.