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From Home Furnishing Business
Big Lots Seeking Financing to Stem Dwindling Liquidity and Losses
February 11,
2024 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry 
Big Lots, Inc. has been seeking financing as it is struggling with its 10th straight quarter of decline as reported in December according to the company website. As reported by Bloomsburg, Big Lots has been working with consultants AlixPartners LLP for operational help.
Big Lots has been reaching out to find investors or bankers who may be willing to provide them with a new loan, according to reports by those who asked not to be named because they are discussing private matters.
Representatives from Big Lots said the company has taken “significant actions to enhance our liquidity,” and “will continue to evaluate potential liquidity options.”
Big Lots has been “monetizing (their 1,400 stores) in recent years to safeguard its cash pile… (leaving) it with relatively few remaining assets to offer up as backing for potential new debt.”
According to the article in Bloomberg, “the discount retailer inked a sale and leaseback deal for a distribution center and 26 owned stores with affiliates of Blue Owl Capital in July for gross proceeds of $318 million, according to a prior statement.”
Because Big Lots had recently shifted the focus from closeout items to furniture at a particularly bad time, when furniture sales weakened and when their top supplier United Furniture Industries, Inc. abruptly shut down, they “have to do something fast to avoid running out of cash,” according to Scott Friedman, credit analyst at Pulse Ratings.