Latham Advises JOANN in Successful Emergence From Financial Restructuring Process

JOANN, the nation’s category leader in sewing and fabrics with one of the largest arts and crafts offerings, has announced it has successfully emerged from its court-supervised financial restructuring process, and has substantially reduced its funded debt by half while further enhancing its liquidity through a US$153 million exit financing facility that replaces the previously announced debtor-in-possession financing. The prepackaged Chapter 11 plan was supported by the company’s lenders, creditors, and industry partners, and became effective April 30, 2024, enabling JOANN to be in its best financial position in recent history. JOANN’s Chapter 11 process was completed in less than 45 days and left landlords, trade vendors, employees, and other unsecured creditors unimpaired.

Latham & Watkins LLP represented JOANN in the process, with a restructuring and special situations team led by New York partner George Davis, Los Angeles partner Ted Dillman, and counsel Ebba Gebisa, with associates Nick Messana, Ali Zablocki, Markus von der Marwitz, Isaac Ashworth, Kevin Shang, Nikhil Gulati, Beau Parker, and Davis Klabo. Advice was also provided on corporate matters by New York partner Senet Bischoff, Century City partner Jason Silvera, New York/Los Angeles partner Greg Rodgers, and Orange County partner Drew Capurro, with associates Greg Van Buiten, AJ Blair, Brian Umanoff, and Erik Jensen; on finance matters by Los Angeles partner Mark Morris, New York partner Kendra Kocovsky, and counsel Jonathan Shih, with associates Melissa Doura, Kendall Ota, and Nilam Faqhir; on benefits and compensation matters by New York partner Bradd Williamson and counsel Rifka Singer; on litigation matters by Los Angeles partner Amy Quartarolo, with associate Joseph Teresi; and on tax matters by Chicago partner Joseph Kronsnoble, with associate Lukas Kutilek.