Tops Looks to Restructure Debt

Tops Markets LLC has retained New York-based investment bank Evercore Inc. for advice on how to deal with its debt, according to a published report citing “people familiar with the matter.”

Hampered by its relatively small size and limited store footprint, as well as the ascendancy of formidable competitors like e-grocer Amazon and its recent acquisition, Whole Foods Market, the Williamsville, N.Y.-based regional grocer, with about 170 supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Massachusetts, had a $723 million debt load as of last April, Reuters reported.

The news agency noted that Tops is taking part in confidential deliberations as it considers various options to get its debt under control.

Along with its debt, Tops has considerable pension liabilities, Reuters pointed out, adding that the company could owe up to $184 million as a result of the 2013 acquisition of a logistics firm that runs its upstate New York warehouses.

In 2017, Tops completed a debt swap with creditors that extended the maturity on some of its borrowings by three years, but the swap still requires that it make payments this year and the next two, which will eat up a significant portion of its cash.

Neither Tops nor Evercore would comment on the Reuters story.