Toys R Us on Tuesday received bankruptcy court approval for the remaining third of $3.2 billion in debtor-in-possession financing. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Keith Philips, Richmond, VA, cleared the funding in praising creditors and Toys R Us for working together and expressing hope that the cooperation continues, according to the Associated Press.

Toys R Us negotiated with creditors to resolve payment issues and is poised for a strong holiday sales season, attorneys for the retailer said.  Indeed, Hasbro executives earlier this week said the company struck an agreement on shipping terms with Toys R Us late last week and didn’t expect TRU’s troubles to have a “significant impact” on its earnings in 2018 (Inside Licensing, Oct. 23). Toys R Us is expected to account for 6.5% ($400 million) of Hasbro’s revenue this year, down from 9% ($450 million) in 2016, says Jeffries’ Stephanie Wissink.

Toys R Us has said it will use the new financing to apply a new sheen to its stores including installing more interactive displays and spending $276 million over a three-year period starting in 2018 on converting more locations to a side-by-side format with Babies R Us (Inside Licensing, Sept. 19.)

Contacts:

Toys R Us, Richard Barry, Global Chief Merchandising Officer, 973-617-5888,  richard.barry@toysrus.com

Jefferies, Stephanie Wissink, Managing Dir./research analyst, 212- 284-1713,  swissink@jeffries.com