This decision has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the future of luxury fashion in the United States, although the retailer said early Wednesday that its stores would remain open for now, after securing a $1.75 billion financing plan and appointing a new chief executive officer.
Former Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck will replace Richard Baker, the architect of the acquisition strategy that left Saks Global saddled with debt.
The company also named Darcy Penick and Lana Todorovich, both former Neiman Marcus executives, as chief commercial officer and head of global brand partnerships at Saks Global, respectively.
In documents filed with the bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas, Saks Global estimated its assets and liabilities to be in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion.
The court proceedings are intended to allow the luxury retailer to negotiate a debt restructuring with its creditors or sell itself to a new owner to avoid liquidation. Otherwise, the company could be forced to shut down.
FINANCING AGREEMENT
The new financing agreement includes an immediate $1 billion injection through a debtor-in-possession loan from a group of investors, Saks Global said. The loan is led by Pentwater Capital Management in Naples, Florida, and Boston-based Bracebridge Capital, according to information from Reuters.
An additional $240 million in financing would be available through an asset-backed loan provided by the company's asset-based lenders, according to Saks Global.
The luxury retailer will have access to $500 million in financing from the investor group once it successfully emerges from bankruptcy protection, which is expected to happen later this year, the company added.
A number of luxury brands were listed among the unsecured creditors, most notably Kering, owner of Chanel and Gucci, for about $136 million and $60 million respectively, according to court filings.
The world's largest luxury conglomerate, LVMH, is listed as an unsecured creditor for $26 million. In total, Saks Global estimates there are between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors.
In 2024, Baker orchestrated the acquisition of Neiman Marcus by Canadian company Hudson's Bay Co, which had owned Saks since 2013, and then spun off the American luxury assets to create Saks Global, bringing together three names that have defined American high fashion for more than a century.
The $2.7 billion deal was funded with about $2 billion in debt and equity contributions from investors such as Amazon, Salesforce, and Authentic Brands, who were cited in the court filing as equity investors in Saks Global.
NEIMAN MARCUS DEAL DEEPENED DEBT
The Neiman Marcus deal aimed to create a luxury giant, but it left Saks Global heavily indebted at a time when global luxury sales were slowing, complicating an already difficult turnaround for CEO and seasoned executive Marc Metrick.
Last year, Saks Global struggled to pay its suppliers, who began withholding their stock, disrupting the company's supply chain and leaving it with insufficient inventory.
The lack of inventory may have pushed shoppers toward competitors like Bloomingdale's, which posted strong sales in 2025, further increasing pressure on Saks Global.
"The rich are still buying," said David Swartz, an analyst at Morningstar, last month, "just not as much at Saks."
(Chandni Shah, Shubham Kalia, Juveria Tabassum, Anuja Bharat Mistry, Sanskriti Shekhar and Savyata Mishra in Bangalore; Nicholas P. Brown and Dietrich Knauth in New York; Mara Vîlcu for the French version; edited by Augustin Turpin)
by Dietrich Knauth and Chandni Shah
