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Supermarket chain Winn-Dixie may be headed back to bankruptcy
The supermarket chain's parent company plans to close nearly 200 stores before or after filing for bankruptcy as soon as March
The corporate parent of supermarket chain Winn-Dixie may file for bankruptcy as soon as March.
Bloomberg also reported that the Winn-Dixie’s corporate parent Bi-Lo LLC plans to close nearly 200 of the supermarket chain’s locations either before or after filing for bankruptcy.
In previous corporate incarnations, the Winn-Dixie business declared bankruptcy in 2009 and 2005, and Bi-Lo still may engineer a debt restructuring that would preclude a third bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg reported.
Bi-Lo is struggling to repay more than $1 billion of debt in connection with its 2005 acquisition of Lone Star Funds. Bi-Lo and its creditors have discussed a potential swap of debt for equity and asset sales.
The supermarket business has become more competitive as Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers vie for grocery sales along with online retailer Amazon, which bought the Whole Foods supermarket chain last year.
A representative of Southeastern Grocers, the Jacksonville-based parent company of Bi-Lo, did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
Southeastern Grocers also operates the Fresco Y Mas and Harvey’s supermarket chains. [Bloomberg] – Mike Seemuth