WOODLAND HILLS, CA – FocalPoint was retained by Shoe Pavilion, Inc. (“Shoe Pavilion”) as financial advisor in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Shoe Pavilion, one of the nation’s largest off-price footwear retailers, was formerly a publicly traded firm on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol “SHOE”. As of July 2008, Shoe Pavilion operated 115 retail stores in seven states: Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico. After experiencing significant operating losses in 2007 and 2008, the company filed for bankruptcy protection on July 15, 2008. FocalPoint was engaged to evaluate the company’s various alternatives and ultimately execute a plan to maximize the recovery to the stakeholders.
“This fall was certainly a tough retail environment to raise capital or identify acquirers for any type of company, and certainly for a retailer,” according to Duane Stullich, Managing Director at FocalPoint Partners. “This case put our creativity to the test and we responded with a very fluid and flexible process. In the end, I believe all of the stakeholders involved in the case would agree that we maximized recovery.”
“With the precipitous decline in retail sales volume which occurred in the second half of 2008 and the evaporation of financing and equity capital available to prospective buyers, FocalPoint helped the company to achieve the best result possible under the circumstances in a very tough economy,” said Ron Bender, Co-Managing Partner at Levene, Neale, Bender, Rankin and Brill L.L.P.
About FocalPoint
FocalPoint is an independent investment bank, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, private placements (both debt and equity), and financial restructurings/distressed M&A. In distressed situations, FocalPoint combines its M&A and capital raising expertise to formulate and execute creative strategies to maximize value for all stakeholders either inside or outside of bankruptcy proceedings.
Please contact Duane Stullich or Jim Skelton at (310) 405-7000 with any questions about this transaction.