Less than two months after Express Inc. filed for bankruptcy, a court document revealed that Phoenix Retail, a new online retailing business, would buy the majority of the garment retailer’s assets.
A Delaware bankruptcy court approved Phoenix, a joint venture between mall owners Simon Property Group and equity investor WHP Global, to purchase the majority of the assets of the struggling apparel store in order to emerge from bankruptcy.
On its website, the company states that it operates roughly 530 Express Retail and Express Factory Outlet outlets combined in the US and Puerto Rico.
In its April bankruptcy filing, Express—which also owns the Bonobos and UpWest brands—listed US $ 1 billion to US $ 10 billion in assets and liabilities.
It declared bankruptcy with approximately US $ 189 million in funded debt, citing the long-term drop in foot traffic at American shopping malls as the main contributing factor.
