Barneys Scrambles for Financing, Bankruptcy Seen Nearer

The delicate dance between Barneys New York and its bankers has become a sprint for cover. Barneys secured additional funding from its lead lender, Wells Fargo, this spring to help cover rent at the Madison Avenue flagship, which jumped dramatically to $30 million from $16 million. But when the tony retailer still didn’t have enough to make ends meet and returned to the bank recently to ask for the money needed to go through the bankruptcy process, Wells Fargo is said to have passed. “Barneys’ ask was just way to high and it was ridiculous how much they needed,” said one financial source, referring to its debtor-in-possession financing proposal. Neither Barneys nor Wells Fargo responded to WWD queries Thursday. The signs of strain at Barneys have been growing. Trade lenders have stopped signing off on shipments to the company and brands are extremely wary that unpaid bills will get caught up in bankruptcy and that they’ll ultimately get much less than what they’re owed. Since apparently being turned down by Wells Fargo, the retailer has moved on and is speaking to debt specialists under the cover of non-disclosure agreements in hopes of cobbling together a DIP package, said another source. The financing, which could

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