A zombie mall store king is born: JCPenney merges with Forever 21 owner | Money [Video]

New York (CNN) — JCPenney is merging with a company that owns a number of other once-bankrupt clothing stores, including Forever 21 and Brooks Brothers, to form a new company that will hold significant sway over the future of America’s malls.

The 123-year-old department store chain anchors the new company — a joint venture with Sparc Group, which also owns Lucky Brand, Eddie Bauer, Nautica and Aeropostale. The merger will form a new company called Catalyst Brands, representing a gamble that combining the beleaguered brands will create a new powerhouse of mall staples … that also happen to have America’s largest mall operators as major financial backers.

Catalyst represents a new chapter for JCPenney, the historic chain that filed for bankruptcy in the height of the pandemic in 2020. It was later bought by mall-owner Simon Property Group and real estate developer Brookfield in a $1.75 billion deal.

Meanwhile, Sparc Group, which is also financially backed by Simon, has grown …