Amazon’s announced acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion 1 is yet another sign of continuing competitive challenges faced by traditional supermarket chains. The Whole Foods acquisition brings Amazon a 468-store footprint, a fresh foods supply chain, new sourcing capabilities, and a strong...
It’s not news that traditional retail has been undergoing a sea change for quite some time, as evidenced by the growing number of big names that have been forced to downsize or close altogether in the past few years. Rue21 and Payless Shoe Store have each closed 400 stores so far this year...
Bankruptcy filings by retailers in the first half of 2017 were on a record-setting pace, with 15 Chapter 11 filings in just the first six months of the year ( Figure 1 ). This exceeds the number of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy in any full year since 2009, and there is a significant...
Beginning in the second half of 2016, the Canadian mining sector started to crawl out of the prolonged downturn that started in 2011, when commodity prices peaked and started a long, slow decline. That decline prompted many in the turnaround and restructuring sector to plan for a lot of work in the...
The Chapter 11 filing of SunEdison Inc. on April 21, 2016, marked the end of an extremely wild ride for shareholders of the world’s largest renewable-energy development company. Considered both a hedge fund and retail investor darling at its peak, SunEdison enjoyed a more than 2,100 percent...
Distressed cycles often test the limits of “market” terms and documentation principles prevalent in industry-specific financing arrangements. For independent oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies, the industry turmoil that peaked in 2015-2016 put the fundamentals of reserve-...
In the current environment of high demand for labor and materials combined with a high risk of government intervention, construction lenders need to detect warning signs of a borrower’s financial difficulty at the earliest opportunity. Requiring best practices for reporting, compliance, payment,...
Supported by government funding of some $135 billion in student loans and grants each year, for-profit and not-for-profit colleges are big business. More than 13 million students receive loans and grants to help cover the costs of tuition, room and board, books, and living expenses. It is still the...
The healthcare industry faces major headwinds in the coming decade, and many players will be forced to endure numerous opportunities to adapt. The challenges will be many and diverse—changes in the legislative landscape, technological advances, lifestyle developments, and pharmaceutical and...
The retail sector continues to make headlines, with news of store closures and liquidations dominating the media. Factors contributing to this turmoil include: The vastly overstored and overspaced U.S. retail environment Globalization and the invasion of sophisticated international retailers The...