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Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation

Posted by william-james88 Mar 15, 2018 at 10:43am CDT 19,084 views
If anyone ever wanted all the details on the Toysrus bakrutcy court hearing, well today is your lucky day since WFMJ.com got their hands on the 124-page filing in U.S. Bankruptcy court. It states the reasons as to why Toysrus has to start liquidating its stores right away, which incudes "2017 U.S. holiday sales [that] came in well below worst case projections". The sales were 250 Million less than projected.

Employees have been given a 60 day notice to employment termination, which means that they will at least be paid for 60 more days (regardless of whether or not the stores will remain open for 2 more months).

It is unsure if gift cards will be honoured since it is not part of the instructions but it is being urged by state governors.

What is part of instructions though, is the description of a deal Toys R Us is currently in the middle of. While a liquidation must happen, it is simultaneously working on a deal to sell 200 US stores along with their entire Canadian operations (which is a very hot commodity right now) to a some interested parties.

While the US operations are unatractive to investors, the lack of competition in Canada and overal better managed stores, have made those stores very profitable (to the point of having a surplus which went towards repaying debt owed by the US operations) and that has attracted several investors. So Toys R Us might survive afterall, but it would be a smaller company and a predominantly Canadian one. We have included the most important part of the 124 page document below, which illustrates this plan, but you can read the entire file here.

In the face of these extraordinary circumstances, further waivers of covenant
defaults are unobtainable. The B-4 lenders—the primary economic stakeholders with respect to
the U.S. collateral—have determined that the best way to maximize their recoveries is to liquidate
the existing inventory in all of the Debtors’ 735 remaining U.S. stores and begin an orderly
wind-down of the U.S. operations. To be clear, the Debtors are not precluding the prospect of any
going concern option for U.S. stores.

In fact, the Debtors have developed a potentially
value-maximizing transaction that would combine up to 200 of the top-performing U.S. stores
(primarily those operating under the side-by-side format similar to the stores operating in Canada) with a going-concern transaction for their Canadian operations. The Debtors are currently
engaged with certain interested parties, including the B-4 Lenders, regarding this transaction and
are hopeful that such a transaction can develop as part of the sale of their Canadian
operations


But because time is of the essence to mitigate losses and maximize recoveries to U.S.
stakeholders, the Debtors regrettably must move forward with implementing a wind-down while
simultaneously pursuing a going-concern transaction tied to Canadian operations.
Accordingly, by this Motion, the Debtors are taking the prudent and responsible
step of seeking authority to begin an immediate and orderly liquidation of their U.S. business and
to sell the Debtors’ equity interest in the Canadian operations.


In short, there is too much of an interest by investors to close Toys R Us Canada, which will instead be sold. What is unknown now is if the buyer will only buy the Canadian operations or also buy 200 US stores as part of the bundle. If that works out, and Canadian practices are applied to those 200 US stores, what you see below may be found in the US as well one day.

Transformers News: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While  Simultaneously Starting Liquidation

More Bots. More News. More Awesome.

Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by LevelRage Mar 15, 2018
Never did find Cogman in stores, had toborder him from TFSource. Seeing him in that picture along with Nitro Zues, the Jada die cast cars, and a couple Titans Return figures makes me hope that this investor does take that route of stocling should they aquire it.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by That_Guy Mar 15, 2018
tmthor wrote:
william-james88 wrote:If anyone ever wanted all the details on the Toysrus bakrutcy court hearing, well today is your lucky day since WFMJ.com got their hands on the 124-page filing in U.S. Bankruptcy court. It states the reasons as to why Toysrus has to start liquidating its stores right away, which incudes "2017 U.S. holiday sales [that] came in well below worst case projections". The sales were 250 Million less than projected.

Employees have been given a 60 day notice to employment termination, which means that they will at least be paid for 60 more days (regardless of whether or not the stores will remain open for 2 more months).

It is unsure if gift cards will be honoured since it is not part of the instructions but it is being urged by state governors.

What is part of instructions though, is the description of a deal Toys R Us is currently in the middle of. While a liquidation must happen, it is simultaneously working on a deal to sell 200 US stores along with their entire Canadian operations (which is a very hot commodity right now) to a few interested parties.

While the US operations are unatractive to investors, the lack of competition in Canada and overal better managed stores, have made those stores very profitable (to the point of having a surplus which went towards repaying debt owed by the US operations) and that has attracted several investors. So Toys R Us might survive afterall, but it would be a smaller company and a Canadian company. We have included the most inportant part of the 124 page document below, which illustrates this plan, but you can read the entire file here.

In the face of these extraordinary circumstances, further waivers of covenant
defaults are unobtainable. The B-4 lenders—the primary economic stakeholders with respect to
the U.S. collateral—have determined that the best way to maximize their recoveries is to liquidate
the existing inventory in all of the Debtors’ 735 remaining U.S. stores and begin an orderly
wind-down of the U.S. operations. To be clear, the Debtors are not precluding the prospect of any
going concern option for U.S. stores.

In fact, the Debtors have developed a potentially
value-maximizing transaction that would combine up to 200 of the top-performing U.S. stores
(primarily those operating under the side-by-side format similar to the stores operating in Canada) with a going-concern transaction for their Canadian operations. The Debtors are currently
engaged with certain interested parties, including the B-4 Lenders, regarding this transaction and
are hopeful that such a transaction can develop as part of the sale of their Canadian
operations


But because time is of the essence to mitigate losses and maximize recoveries to U.S.
stakeholders, the Debtors regrettably must move forward with implementing a wind-down while
simultaneously pursuing a going-concern transaction tied to Canadian operations.
Accordingly, by this Motion, the Debtors are taking the prudent and responsible
step of seeking authority to begin an immediate and orderly liquidation of their U.S. business and
to sell the Debtors’ equity interest in the Canadian operations.
6
To effectuate the U.S. wind-down,


So in otherwords the US stores will Liquidate and if a deal is set the Canadian stores could be saved...but its basically too late for the US stores once liquidation starts. Untill the Canadian owners want to open new stores in the areas where the 200 stores were performing...maybe they could open smaller stores at the malls I hear rent is cheaper then big standalone stores


What would be interesting is to see Toys R Us in the US(if this happens) pop up like Kay-bee used to. What scares me, and this is more than likely individual malls, is how long it would last. Countryside Mall in Clearwater has had a lot of stores close their doors. There is a lot of space, while at the same time the comic and hobby shop there is expanding. Time will tell, but there are a lot of eyes, ours the local mom groups on my wife's FB page, and in general on what is going on.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by Aimless Misfire Mar 15, 2018
Damn! If my TRU looked like that I would shop there all the time. :shock:

The Transformers section in my TRU isn't even a quarter of that.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by MrBlack Mar 15, 2018
The "side-by-side format" seems to be referring to stores with Toys R Us and Babies R Us under the same roof, correct?
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by william-james88 Mar 15, 2018
MrBlack wrote:The "side-by-side format" seems to be referring to stores with Toys R Us and Babies R Us under the same roof, correct?

Yes. I had not realized the distinction since, as the case states, every TRU in Canada is side-by-side, so thats all I have known ever sicne BabiesRUs existed in my country.

That means the plan is more like an expansion of TRU Canada into the US. Pretty nuts that we have 2 countries side by side and the plan for one is to call it quits, while the plan for the other is to expand.

EDIT:

Wait a sec...

"sell the Debtors’ equity interest in the Canadian operations"

AHA! This confirms what we were thinking all along, Canada is run 100% independently of the US, it's just that the US has ownership (plus, that wording doesnt even like like a 100% owneship). Like Proctor and Gamble and all the brands they own which can be sold to other bidders if the price is right (like they did with Sunny Delight).
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by galvatron00 Mar 15, 2018
william-james88 wrote:
MrBlack wrote:The "side-by-side format" seems to be referring to stores with Toys R Us and Babies R Us under the same roof, correct?

Yes. I had not realized the distinction since, as the case states, every TRU in Canada is side-by-side, so thats all I have known ever sicne BabiesRUs existed in my country.

That means the plan is more like an expansion of TRU Canada into the US. Pretty nuts that we have 2 countries side by side and the plan for one is to call it quits, while the plan for the other is to expand.
Two countries side by side uniting with the side by side store format. Seems legit. :lol:

In other news, I'm super sad. Reading some of the responses to this thread earlier today hit me in the feels while I was walking the dog this morning. The dang catchy jingle. Getting the catalog (STILL!!) at Christmas time. All the memories over all of the years. I don't go to Toys R Us as much as I used to (once a month), but I still prefer going there to buy toys than going to Target or Walmart. I always see something there I didn't know was out from at least one toy line. They have the place to put those things that you don't see everywhere else. I'd lose my mind if TRU U.S. was stocked as well as TRU Canada. I think most other people would too. Dang it TRU and debt. Let this be a lesson to kids, don't accumulate debt. :lol:
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by o.supreme Mar 15, 2018
Well hopefully now the ghost that haunts the Sunnyvale CA TRU can rest. ;)
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by Megatron Wolf Mar 15, 2018
Come on now we all know TRU doesnt look like that, stop playing with photoshop. But joking aside I stopped in a TRU today and was told that liquidation starts in a week or so, theres no exact date yet just an estimated time frame. Also the employees are more pissed then us so if you do go to a TRU be nice.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by MrBlack Mar 15, 2018
william-james88 wrote:
MrBlack wrote:The "side-by-side format" seems to be referring to stores with Toys R Us and Babies R Us under the same roof, correct?

Yes. I had not realized the distinction since, as the case states, every TRU in Canada is side-by-side, so thats all I have known ever sicne BabiesRUs existed in my country.

That means the plan is more like an expansion of TRU Canada into the US. Pretty nuts that we have 2 countries side by side and the plan for one is to call it quits, while the plan for the other is to expand.

EDIT:

Wait a sec...

"sell the Debtors’ equity interest in the Canadian operations"

AHA! This confirms what we were thinking all along, Canada is run 100% independently of the US, it's just that the US has ownership (plus, that wording doesnt even like like a 100% owneship). Like Proctor and Gamble and all the brands they own which can be sold to other bidders if the price is right (like they did with Sunny Delight).

Interesting.

I hope this works out, not only because it would spectacularly bad for the toy industry for TRU to go under completely, but also because there's a good likelihood that at least one TRU around me would stay open (and likely have better stock than any individual store does now).
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by tmthor Mar 15, 2018
william-james88 wrote:If anyone ever wanted all the details on the Toysrus bakrutcy court hearing, well today is your lucky day since WFMJ.com got their hands on the 124-page filing in U.S. Bankruptcy court. It states the reasons as to why Toysrus has to start liquidating its stores right away, which incudes "2017 U.S. holiday sales [that] came in well below worst case projections". The sales were 250 Million less than projected.

Employees have been given a 60 day notice to employment termination, which means that they will at least be paid for 60 more days (regardless of whether or not the stores will remain open for 2 more months).

It is unsure if gift cards will be honoured since it is not part of the instructions but it is being urged by state governors.

What is part of instructions though, is the description of a deal Toys R Us is currently in the middle of. While a liquidation must happen, it is simultaneously working on a deal to sell 200 US stores along with their entire Canadian operations (which is a very hot commodity right now) to a some interested parties.

While the US operations are unatractive to investors, the lack of competition in Canada and overal better managed stores, have made those stores very profitable (to the point of having a surplus which went towards repaying debt owed by the US operations) and that has attracted several investors. So Toys R Us might survive afterall, but it would be a smaller company and a predominantly Canadian one. We have included the most important part of the 124 page document below, which illustrates this plan, but you can read the entire file here.

In the face of these extraordinary circumstances, further waivers of covenant
defaults are unobtainable. The B-4 lenders—the primary economic stakeholders with respect to
the U.S. collateral—have determined that the best way to maximize their recoveries is to liquidate
the existing inventory in all of the Debtors’ 735 remaining U.S. stores and begin an orderly
wind-down of the U.S. operations. To be clear, the Debtors are not precluding the prospect of any
going concern option for U.S. stores.

In fact, the Debtors have developed a potentially
value-maximizing transaction that would combine up to 200 of the top-performing U.S. stores
(primarily those operating under the side-by-side format similar to the stores operating in Canada) with a going-concern transaction for their Canadian operations. The Debtors are currently
engaged with certain interested parties, including the B-4 Lenders, regarding this transaction and
are hopeful that such a transaction can develop as part of the sale of their Canadian
operations


But because time is of the essence to mitigate losses and maximize recoveries to U.S.
stakeholders, the Debtors regrettably must move forward with implementing a wind-down while
simultaneously pursuing a going-concern transaction tied to Canadian operations.
Accordingly, by this Motion, the Debtors are taking the prudent and responsible
step of seeking authority to begin an immediate and orderly liquidation of their U.S. business and
to sell the Debtors’ equity interest in the Canadian operations.


In short, there is too much of an interest by investors to close Toys R Us Canada, which will instead be sold. What is unknown now is if the buyer will only buy the Canadian operations or also buy 200 US stores as part of the bundle. If that works out, and Canadian practices are applied to those 200 US stores, what you see below may be found in the US as well one day.

Image


My TRU does look like that and I am in the USA
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by o.supreme Mar 15, 2018
tmthor wrote:My TRU does look like that and I am in the USA


Nobody's
TRU in the USA looks like that. That is WJ point. The ratio of TRU's in the US to Canada is about 8-to-1, and its population about 9 to 1. If in the midst of all the closures, by some miracle, even a fraction of the TRU stores in the U.S. somehow are saved, we could be looking at a much better selection, even if we have to go a little distance to look at them.

Also just for Grins and contrast, from a chain NOT closing, here was a walmart near me a couple of days ago. this is a bigger store near the center of Sacramento, where I've had good finds in the last year such as TR Overlord and most recently PotP Elita-1, now look at it...ughh...
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by WreckerJack Mar 15, 2018
This is what my TRU looked like last time I was there. Aside from Dreadwind I didn't see anything worth purchasing. It looks stocked but its all the junk no one buys. It was really sad :(

Image
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by Cyber Bishop Mar 15, 2018
That_Guy wrote:for some folks, it's about also holding it in your hands while purchasing it. While at the same time, not 100%, I don't trust shipping.



This ;)^
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by -Kanrabat- Mar 15, 2018
All Canadians subscribed to TrU's newsletter got this:

http://email.toysrus.ca/H/v2000001622b1 ... 20b56deac7



March 15, 2018

To our valued Canadian customers,

Toys “R” Us, Inc. announced the difficult decision to seek court approval in its Chapter 11 proceedings to wind-down its business operations in the United States. Our team members in Canada are very saddened to hear of this outcome and we are all keeping our U.S. colleagues in our thoughts during this very difficult time.

In Canada, all 82 stores remain open for business to serve you, our customers, honouring all our policies, warranties, Baby Registry, Gift Cards and RClub loyalty programs without change. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure the iconic Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us brands live on for many generations to come in Canada.

Our team continues to work hard at strengthening our competitive position and making the improvements necessary to ensure that we have the products when, where and how you choose to shop with us. Our Canadian operations are continuing in the normal course and we continue to partner with the trend products you want from the brands that you trust.

For the past 34 years, we have proudly served Canada as the trend authority in toy and baby and we remain the champions of play and trusted advisors helping people become parents.

Thank you for choosing to say “yes” to shop and support Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us Canada! We are proud to continue to welcome you in Canada coast to coast in store and online at www.toysrus.ca and www.babiesrus.ca for all of your toy and baby needs.



Melanie Teed-Murch, President
Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us Canada


For now, Canada is safe...
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by tmthor Mar 15, 2018
-Kanrabat- wrote:All Canadians subscribed to TrU's newsletter got this:

http://email.toysrus.ca/H/v2000001622b1 ... 20b56deac7



March 15, 2018

To our valued Canadian customers,

Toys “R” Us, Inc. announced the difficult decision to seek court approval in its Chapter 11 proceedings to wind-down its business operations in the United States. Our team members in Canada are very saddened to hear of this outcome and we are all keeping our U.S. colleagues in our thoughts during this very difficult time.

In Canada, all 82 stores remain open for business to serve you, our customers, honouring all our policies, warranties, Baby Registry, Gift Cards and RClub loyalty programs without change. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure the iconic Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us brands live on for many generations to come in Canada.

Our team continues to work hard at strengthening our competitive position and making the improvements necessary to ensure that we have the products when, where and how you choose to shop with us. Our Canadian operations are continuing in the normal course and we continue to partner with the trend products you want from the brands that you trust.

For the past 34 years, we have proudly served Canada as the trend authority in toy and baby and we remain the champions of play and trusted advisors helping people become parents.

Thank you for choosing to say “yes” to shop and support Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us Canada! We are proud to continue to welcome you in Canada coast to coast in store and online at http://www.toysrus.ca and http://www.babiesrus.ca for all of your toy and baby needs.



Melanie Teed-Murch, President
Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us Canada


For now, Canada is safe...


On the radio the bussiness guy said (he could be wrong) that the Canadian stores would have to absorb a percentage of the debt or "close down" and operate as a new branded company or purchase the name toys r us and a percentage of the debit he said no deals have been made yet and the debit issue would make them unattractive to investors. Also he said the story about the stores in the US is false...in a way as once the stores are sold to the liquidation companies the stores and all stock belong to them hence a buyer would have to act fast before the court puts it up to auction to said liquidators

Again he could be wrong but he was trying to explain what the legal mumbo jumbo meant. Also he said Bain and the rest would lose nothing in this deal.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by lakebot Mar 15, 2018
william-james88 wrote:
Mindmaster wrote:Very depressing. TRU has came in clutch on more than one occasion for me (its literally the only place that’s even bothered to stock the last three Titan-class figures on the shelves where I’m at). Got quite a few memories from TRU.

I keep seeing this claim about the titans and while its true that they put them in their stores, I dont see how that helps anyone.
Would americans pay 150$ if they see it in a store right now, rather than instead purchasing it for way less at walmart.com https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers?wmlspartner=FYAGeMjDX6c&=&affs=p&wid=5b6b4213e4b0bcb699adeb9f&u1=&oid=223073.10006940&sourceid=37141976172661509211&affillinktype=3&veh=aff ... n/55589165

Or amazon https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... zon/40584/


Those are on sale now but we’re they when it was originally released? Secondly, with things like that, I’m not fond of the waiting for something to go on sale because that can burn you. As for preference regarding buying online or in store, I’d go the store route. I’m not saying that to be the bug in the soup either. I really don’t like having packages delivered. We really have people who swipe them. You are really gambling with that. And after having things arrive damaged, it just seems too much of a chance. If it’s small or inexpensive I could see me chancing it. Gonna have to for Predaking.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by chuckdawg1999 Mar 15, 2018
The most important thing to remember is that 33,000 Americans are going to be out of work to start. Who knows how this trickles down to toy companies and other vendors.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by Acesmcgee Mar 15, 2018
Had a discussion with my 17 year old son about this topic actually. As stated above, the thing that he was actually mad at is that due to poor management and whatever else occurred to Toys R Us, so many people will be losing their jobs. It is terrible all about and a little odd, it's like losing that eccentric friend that you love, and no, the staffing at the TRU by me was never great, but the staff was. I never felt like I was annoying them, or that I was burdening them by shopping their. The one by me generally hired older folks and it was great, because they all treated my kids so nicely too. They laughed at the kids having fun and screeching at some toy or the other and were happy to help parents search for something for their kids.
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by Emerje Mar 15, 2018
I haven't seen this posted yet, looks like TRU Canada got at least one bid this week. But is it a good idea for a toy company to own a major toy retailer?

Bid Submitted for Toys R Us Canada

The company is California's privately owned MGA (Bratz, Little Tikes) who's CEO and founder is a certified billionaire.

Emerje
Re: Toys R Us Trying to Sell Canadian and US Operations While Simultaneously Starting Liquidation (view post)
Comment by Chibi Starscream Mar 16, 2018
So here's to hoping we keep 200 TRU stores in the US.....
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