Andrea Bruce for The New York TimesAtif A. Abdulmalik, the chief of Arcapita Bank, in Manama, Bahrain.Arcapita Bank, a $7.4 billion Bahraini investment firm that owns the clothier J. Jill, filed for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan on Monday after it was unable to extend a $1.1 billion credit line set to expire next Wednesday.
Arcapita said in a court filing that it had more than $1 billion each in assets and liabilities. Besides J. Jill, which it purchased last year, it owns the likes of the Viridian Group, a utility based in Northern Ireland; Pods, an American storage and moving company; and the Falcon Gas Storage Company of Houston. It previously owned the retailer Loehmann’s as well.
The investment firm said in a statement that its filing was tied to its efforts to renegotiate its loan facilities, which had run into difficulty amid the European sovereign debt crisis. Arcapita began discussions about its $1.1 billion credit line three weeks ago, hoping to extend it by three years, but could not reach agreements with “certain nonbank creditors.”
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Documents: Arcapita press releaseNow that it is in Chapter 11 protection, Arcapita is hoping to use American bankruptcy laws to complete the restructuring of its debt.
“This was a difficult decision,” Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita’s chief executive, said in a statement. “But after lengthy review of all the alternatives open to us, there is no question that this is the right course of action, which we are taking with the support of the board.”
Arcapita listed the Central Bank of Bahrain as its biggest unsecured creditor, with a $255.1 million claim.
The company is being advised in bankruptcy by Rothschild and the law firms Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; Linklaters; Trowers & Hamlins; and Hatim S. Zu’bi & Partners.