J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has reportedly hired The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) to help it raise some much needed funds. This comes less than a week after the struggling retailer ousted CEO Ron Johnson and replaced him with its previous CEO, Myron Ullman III.
Today The Wall Street Journal reports that sources told it about the retail chain’s hiring of The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX). The media outlet said a number of private equity firms offered to invest in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) while several lenders offered debt financing to keep the company afloat.
According to DealBook, J.C. Penney could go through $1 billion this year. DealBook’s source said currently the company is looking to raise new debt because of how low its stock is trading at. As of the moment of this writing, shares of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) are down 3 percent to $14.41 per share.
A spokesperson for the company did say they hired outside advisors to help it with finances. She said such outside advice would continue until the retail chain can develop a new plan to move forward and become profitable.
Analysts believe J.C. Penney’s cash pile is dwindling rapidly, although it reported $930 million in cash as of February 2. It’s expected that the company will burn through that cash quickly as it tries to cover its expenses amidst rapidly falling sales. Analysts also believe the company will begin dipping into its available $1.8 billion revolving line of credit sometime this year.
The only good news J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has right now is the fact that it has no big debts maturing until 2015.
