Retail Ventures Inc (Columbus, Ohio) has announced the disposition of an 81 percent ownership interest in its Value City Department Stores business to VCHI Acquisition Co., a newly formed private equity entity owned by VCDS Acquisition Holdings LLC, Emerald Capital Management LLC and Crystal Value LLC.
In connection with the sale, Retail Ventures’ wholly owned subsidiary, Filene's Basement Inc., entered into a $100 million secured credit facility with National City Business Credit Inc.
This transaction does not impact the Value City Furniture Stores business, which is separately owned and operated.
Retail Ventures Inc. will continue to operate the 36 Filene's Basement stores and 259 DSW stores.
Retail Ventures will receive no net cash proceeds from the sale. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the investor group will essentially get paid to take Value City stores off the hands of Retail Ventures.
Value City Department Stores operates 113 discount department stores in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States.