The coronavirus crisis triggered bankruptcy filings by large US companies during 2020, reaching the total number at its highest in 2009, in the midst of the economic and financial crisis.

According to Bloomberg data, a total of 244 large companies filed for bankruptcy, primarily from the energy, retail and consumer services sectors. Among them are department store chains, historical fashion brands, owners of shopping centers and companies dedicated to sports and leisure.

In the 'retail' sector, for example, 27 applications were registered, and the cases of giants such as the JC Penney department store chain, the Stein Mart retail chain, the Brooks Brothers clothing brand (the oldest that operated in the US to date) or the Neiman Marcus department store group. In the energy sector, 47 companies with debts of at least 50 million dollars (about 40 million euros) filed for bankruptcy.

22 companies from the health sector, such as Quorum Health and Thomas Health System, as well as 22 other large companies dedicated to the real estate business also applied for the contest; including mall owners CBL & Associates and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which filed for bankruptcy in November and within hours of each other.

Company giants related to sports and leisure, such as 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Town Sports International Holdings and VIP Cinema Holdings, have also succumbed to the effects of the health crisis.

And everything indicates that in 2021 the barrage of bankruptcies of large corporations in the first world power will continue, despite the arrival of vaccines against covid-19. In fact, experts believe that the scenario will start to get complicated from spring and that the worst data will arrive in the second half of the year. In the specific case of the real estate sector, they foresee a worsening as the aid is exhausted, such as concessions to owners, and due to the transformation that the commercial sector is undergoing due to the promotion of online purchases.

In fact, 'retail' lived through 2020 marked by the closure of thousands of stores, weighed down by confinements, social distancing measures, problems in the supply chain and the rise of e-commerce.

Real estate companies buying up bankrupt chains

In recent months, American real estate firms have burst onto the economic scene as saviors of large fashion chains in the US that have gone bankrupt following the covid-19 pandemic . The Simon Property Group company, without going any further, has closed several corporate operations in recent times.

It is one of the largest mall owners in the country, and in December it took over the department store chain JC Penney, one of the most high-profile bankruptcies of the year.

In the summer, he also became a co-owner of Brooks Brothers, a two-century-old menswear firm that had filed for bankruptcy over the coronavirus, and was given the go-ahead for Lucky Brand, a specialist clothing firm. jeans and based in California, in a transaction in which it acted as a partner of Authentic Brands, controlled by BlackRock and owner of Sports Illustrated magazine. During 2020, Simon Property Group also, along with Authentic Brands and another large mall owner, Brookfield Property Partners, also bought fashion firm Forever 21.