Paul, Weiss Advises Lenders in Belk Deleveraging Transaction

Paul, Weiss advised an ad hoc group of first lien term loan lenders in a deleveraging transaction by Belk, Inc., a privately owned department store with nearly 300 stores across the Southeastern United States.

Under the transaction, certain existing lenders, including funds associated with KKR and Hein Park, have gained a controlling interest in the business, with longtime equity sponsor Sycamore Partners ceding control. Belk, for its part, has reduced its outstanding debt by more than $950 million, amended its existing asset-based credit facility to extend the maturity date to July 2029, and secured approximately $485 million in new capital. In addition to reducing Belk's debt load, the transaction will preserve thousands of jobs and provide the business with additional liquidity to expand national vendor partnerships.

The Paul, Weiss team includes restructuring partners Brian Hermann and Andrew Parlen and counsel Douglas Keeton; corporate partners Sung Pak, David Huntington, Jeffrey Marell and Lukas Richards and counsel Lyudmila Bondarenko; tax partner Brian Krause; executive compensation partner Rebecca Coccaro; litigation partner William Clareman; and antitrust counsel Yuni Sobel and Todd Hahn.