“The proceeds of the Term Loan Agreement will be used for debt repayment, to finance the acquisition of working capital assets, and for other general corporate purposes. On July 9, 2012, the Company used $14.8 million of the proceeds to repay its term loan with Wells Fargo Bank.”-Coldwater Creek statement
The struggling Sandpoint, Idaho based womens clothing retailer, Coldwater Creek, has been busy trying to save itself, through huge loans and stock tricks.
On 09 July 2012, Coldwater Creek took a $65 million USD loan from Golden Gate Capital. Stockholders seemed happy that Coldwater Creek took on more debt, because the company stock went up, slightly, it’s still trading at less than one dollar.
Stocks trading at less than one dollar per share is in violation of NASDAQ rules, which means Coldwater Creek could be de-listed just like Hoku.
On 21 July, Coldwater Creek announced it was considering a stock split, in order to get it’s value above the magic one dollar mark. NASDAQ has given Coldwater Creek until 11 December to bring up the value of its stock.
On 19 July stock prices were at a weak 68 cents per share. Officials with the Idaho clothing retailer hope that 1-3 split would raise the stock to $2.00 per share. A 1-6 split could get it to $4.00. A meeting was supposedly held on 25 July to consider the split. But this is just tricks.
Notice in the above quote that Coldwater Creek says it paid down $14.8 million in debt to Wells Fargo. What they didn’t say is that they’ve negotiated another $70 million revolving credit deal with the same bank!
Back to Golden Gate Capital. This finance company took over Eddie Bauer in 2009, and is part of a larger group that took over Collective Brands (which owns PayLess and StrideRite shoes).
Golden Gate Capital now holds 19.9% of Coldwater Creek stock, and put two of its own people on the board of directors of Coldwater Creek.
Back on 30 June, an analyst with The Motley Fool, gave three reasons to dump Coldwater Creek stock: Stiff competition, no profits since 2007 and tens of millions in debt!