Depending on how negotiations go between TCP and Walt Disney Co. from this point, WDC will regain control of Disney Store operations, but only for about 200 of the 300+ locations.
Full story at newsday.com:Disney Store operator expects to leave business by May
By JEFFREY GOLD | AP Business Writer
March 27, 2008
NEWARK, N.J. - The operator of the Disney Store chain on Thursday said that the return of over 200 stores to Walt Disney Co. could be completed by May if its restructuring plan is accepted by a bankruptcy judge.
The remaining 100-plus Disney Stores in North America would be closed, said Chuck Crovitz, interim chief executive officer of The Children's Place Retail Stores Inc.
His comments came Thursday in a teleconference with analysts less than a day after the Children's Place subsidiary that operates the Disney Stores filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
The subsidiary, Hoop Holdings LLC, runs 322 Disney Stores. Secaucus-based Children's Place announced March 20 that it was negotiating to have Disney regain control of two-thirds of those stores. That announcement did not mention that bankruptcy would be used.
Neither Children's Place nor its other subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy, the company said.
Disney, of Burbank, Calif., said the bankruptcy filing was expected and that talks are continuing.
"We are very close to where we need to be, but we are not at 100 percent," Crovitz said Thursday. "There are some issues, but we don't see them as being insurmountable."
He said the transfer can be completed following the court proceedings, which he hoped would conclude by April 30.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... 5413.story
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