Party City Holdco Inc. (the “Company” or “PRTY”; NYSE:PRTY) today
announced that two new independent directors, Jennifer Fleiss,
Co-Founder of Rent the Runway, and Joel Alsfine, former Partner at
MSD Capital, L.P., will join the Company’s Board of Directors,
effective September 13, 2020. In addition, the Company announced
that Morry Weiss has decided to retire from the Board at that time.
Ms. Fleiss brings to Party City significant digital expertise
and a proven record of building unique marketplace platforms that
disrupt the traditional shopping experience and enable leading
retail businesses. In addition to co-founding Rent the Runway, Ms.
Fleiss most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Jetblack,
a concierge shopping service previously offered by Walmart as part
of its tech incubator.
Mr. Alsfine has extensive capital markets and investment
experience as a Senior Advisor and former Partner at MSD Capital.
He also brings to Party City substantial financial and risk
management related experience from his previous work at private
equity and consulting firms.
“We are delighted to add two highly qualified directors who each
bring skills and experience that will advance our vision of
becoming the leading marketplace for celebration services and
products,” said Norman Matthews, Chairman of the Party City Board.
“Over the past year, we have successfully reset our capital
structure, shifted our operations to serve customers in a new
retail environment and brought on exceptional talent throughout the
organization, including on our executive leadership team.
Jennifer’s and Joel’s decision to join our Board is a testament to
the transformation underway and the exciting opportunities the
Company is creating in serving our customers. We look forward to
Jennifer’s and Joel’s contributions as part of these efforts.”
Mr. Matthews continued, “We thank Morry for his service and
dedication to Party City during his five-year tenure as a director,
including his most recent support as we rapidly adapted our
business model in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We wish him the
best in his retirement.”
With the changes announced today, the Party City Board will be
comprised of 11 directors, including nine independent directors as
well as the Company’s Vice Chairman James Harrison and President
and Chief Executive Officer Brad Weston. Party City noted that Mr.
Alsfine was mutually selected in partnership with certain of its
bondholders and third party investors under a Board Nomination
Agreement dated September 11, 2020, in connection with the
Company’s 2020 refinancing transactions.
About Jennifer Fleiss
Jennifer Fleiss most recently served as the Chief Executive
Officer of Jetblack, a subdivision of Walmart, and prior as
Co-Founder, President and Director of Rent the Runway. During her
nine years at Rent the Runway, Ms. Fleiss served in a variety of
leadership roles in operations, strategy and business development.
Ms. Fleiss currently serves on the Board of Directors of Rent the
Runway and Shutterfly, Inc. Previously, Ms. Fleiss worked at Lehman
Brothers and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
Ms. Fleiss received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in
2009 and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Yale
University in 2005.
About Joel Alsfine
Joel Alsfine is a Senior Advisor to MSD Capital. Until July
2020, Mr. Alsfine was a Partner and the head of the Tactical
Investments Group at MSD. MSD Capital is an investment firm formed
to manage the capital of Michael Dell and his family. As head of
the Tactical Investment Group, Mr. Alsfine led a team that drew on
MSD’s investment experience and external relationships to invest
flexibly across a variety of public and private asset classes. Mr.
Alsfine joined MSD in 2002 as an analyst focused on investing in
public equity securities and subsequently became the portfolio
manager of a large, concentrated public equity portfolio. Mr.
Alsfine became a Partner of MSD in February 2014. Prior to joining
MSD Mr. Alsfine worked at TG Capital Corp, a single-family
investment office investing across all asset classes, McKinsey
& Company, and accounting firm Fisher Hoffman Stride. Mr.
Alsfine is on the Board of Asbury Automotive Group Inc (Ticker
ABG). He also serves on the Board of Life Time Inc., and he is an
independent director of CC Neuberger Principal Holdings II, a
Special Purpose Acquisition Company.
Mr. Alsfine received his M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of
Business in 1996 and his Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) in
Accounting in 1990 from the University of the Witwatersrand in
South Africa.
About Party City
Party City Holdco Inc. is the leading party goods company by
revenue in North America and, we believe, the largest vertically
integrated supplier of decorated party goods globally by revenue.
The Company is a popular one-stop shopping destination for party
supplies, balloons, and costumes. In addition to being a great
retail brand, the Company is a global, world-class organization
that combines state-of-the-art manufacturing and sourcing
operations, and sophisticated wholesale operations complemented by
a multi-channel retailing strategy and e-commerce retail
operations. The Company is the leading player in its category,
vertically integrated and unique in its breadth and depth. The
Company designs, manufactures, sources and distributes party goods,
including paper and plastic tableware, metallic and latex balloons,
Halloween and other costumes, accessories, novelties, gifts and
stationery throughout the world. The Company’s retail operations
include approximately 850 specialty retail party supply stores
(including franchise stores) throughout North America operating
under the names Party City and Halloween City, and e-commerce
websites, principally through the domain name PartyCity.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes statements that constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of
the Exchange Act and Section 27A of the Securities Act.
Forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts
of future events or our future financial or operating performance,
including Party City’s expectations regarding its ability to
maximize the potential of its plans to open and close stores, plans
to invest capital expenditures, and anticipated interest expense
and depreciation and amortization expense for fiscal year 2020. The
forward-looking statements contained in this press release are
based on management's good-faith belief and reasonable judgment
based on current information, and these statements are qualified by
important risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our
control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially
from those forecasted or indicated by such forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include: potential risks
and uncertainties relating to the ultimate geographic spread of
COVID-19; the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; the duration of
the COVID-19 pandemic; actions that may be taken by governmental
authorities to contain the COVID-19 pandemic or to treat its
impact; the potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on the global
economy and foreign sourcing; the impacts of COVID-19 on our
financial condition and business operation; our ability to compete
effectively in a competitive industry; fluctuations in commodity
prices; our ability to appropriately respond to changing
merchandise trends and consumer preferences; successful
implementation of our store growth strategy; decreases in our
Halloween sales; the impact of helium shortages on our financial
performance; disruption to the transportation system or increases
in transportation costs; product recalls or product liability;
economic slowdown affecting consumer spending and general economic
conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; loss or
actions of third party vendors and loss of the right to use
licensed material; disruptions at our manufacturing facilities; and
the additional risks and uncertainties set forth in “Risk Factors”
in Party City’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2019 and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished
to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that
the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are
reasonable, we cannot guarantee future events, outlook, guidance,
results, actions, levels of activity, performance or achievements.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward
looking statements. Except as may be required by any applicable
laws, Party City assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise
such forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date
hereof or the earlier date specified herein, whether as a result of
new information, future developments or otherwise.
ContactsInvestor
RelationsFarah Soi / Rachel
SchacterICR203-682-8200InvestorRelations@partycity.com
Media RelationsLeigh Parrish / Barrett Golden /
Andrew SquireJoele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher212-355-4449
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