jc penney co inc has approached consulting firm alixpartners llp as the us retailer looks at options for managing its debt bloomberg news reported on tuesday citing people with knowledge of the matter brickandmortar retailers are struggling to keep up with the shift to online shopping and the crisis has been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak which has forced them to shutter stores and furlough employees jc penney has been in talks with lenders in recent weeks about its liquidity needs and negotiating a possible debt deal the report saidread alsojc penney furloughs staff extends store closures amid pandemic advt the retailer had 372 billion in borrowings as of feb 1 its latest annual filing showed with cash and cash equivalents of 386 million its 2019 sales fell 8 to 1072 billion from the previous year the companys combined credit score which measures on a scale of 100 to 1 how likely a company is to default on its debts in the next year was 1 according to refinitiv eikon data indicating it was expected to default jc penney and new yorkheadquartered alixpartners were not available for comment outside of business hours reuters reported last week that macys inc the largest us department store operator by sales had hired investment bank lazard ltd to explore options for bolstering its finances reuters published on apr 14 2020 at 0501 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app clothing brand coronavirus outbreak jc penney coronavirus lockdown retail industry retailer stores closed fashion retailer homenewsjc penney to hire advisors as it mulls options for debt bloomberg news