For several years, Seritage Growth Properties ' (NYSE: SRG) heavy debt load has been a significant risk for the Sears real estate spinoff's shareholders. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, disrupting Seritage's redevelopment plans, that risk suddenly became acute, threatening the REIT's future.
Last week, Seritage Growth Properties took an important step on the road back to financial health by prepaying $160 million of debt. Nevertheless, it has a lot of work left to fix its balance sheet so that it can focus on executing its turnaround strategy.
Seritage has been burning cash consistently since the middle of 2018, as primary tenant Sears Holdings started closing stores much faster than the REIT could redevelop them for new tenants.
For further details see:
Can This REIT Get Out of Debt Before It's Too Late?