Revlon is gearing up to unveil the new chairman of the board as it prepares to exit bankruptcy at the end of next week, multiple sources told WWD.
WWD understands that the troubled company, whose brands include Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and Almay, has been working behind the scenes to appoint a new chair, approaching multiple executives in both the beauty and apparel sectors, after a bankruptcy judge approved a deal with lenders that led to Ronald Perelman’s exit from the company after decades at the helm.
The sources mentioned multiple names have been in the mix, including Laurie Ann Goldman, the former Spanx chief executive officer who had a short stint as CEO at Avon. She has had much board experience, including at Guess, the European Wax Center and Adore Me, and is the board chair at Claire’s.
Neither Goldman nor Revlon responded to requests for comment.
Through Revlon’s newly approved bankruptcy plan, ownership stakes will be handed to secured lenders, while existing shareholders, including MacAndrews chairman Perelman, who controlled around 85 percent of the company as of earlier this year, will be left with nothing.
The plan will eliminate more than $2.7 billion in debt from its balance sheet, with approximately $1.5 billion of debt outstanding. In exchange, the majority of Revlon’s equity will be owned by former lenders of a 2020 loan, known as the Brandco lenders.
Revlon is expected to emerge with approximately $285 million of liquidity, to be funded through an equity rights offering, a new money senior secured credit facility, and new asset-based loan.
Perelman’s daughter, Debra Perelman, will remain as Revlon’s president and CEO. The company is understood to be actively recruiting other executivess, in addition to the chair.
Prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Revlon had been struggling with a hefty pile of debt — about $3.7 billion — that it spent much of 2020 renegotiating, which enabled it to avoid a more formal restructuring process back then. But supply chain issues, soaring inflation and increased competition from the likes of the Estée Lauder Cos., Coty Inc. and a plethora of digital start-ups only exacerbated the situation. Those factors, combined with loans coming up for renewal, forced Revlon into bankruptcy in 2022.
Revlon also previously tried to sell several of its brands over the years, cycling through different bankers, but no deals were completed.
Ronald Perelman had been the majority owner of Revlon since the mid-’80s, gaining control via a hostile takeover through his company MacAndrews & Forbes. He took Revlon to new heights in the ’80s and ’90s, when he used the brand to catapult himself into the worlds of society, fashion and Hollywood by tapping such faces as Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Jerry Hall and more.
But in 2020, he revealed that he’d been selling off assets — from companies to fine art — and at the beginning of this year, he offloaded his opulent Lily Pond Lane mansion in East Hampton, New York, for $84.5 million. This was down from the original listing price of $115 million.