Onyx Partners, a private equity firm that last year attempted to acquire a portfolio of roughly 120 J.C. Penney stores spanning several states, is trying again.
This time, the company has offered $934 million for 117 properties, which like last year’s bid averages out to about $8 million per store. Other aspects of the most recent proposal follow what was originally agreed to in May 2025, and financing is fully in place, an Onyx Partners spokesperson said by email Friday. The firm is prepared to close on Sept. 25.
Last year’s agreement fell through in December, though the reasons are unclear. Executives from Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust in July 2025 had faced a slew of questions from investors, including about the price and potential alternatives.
The trust was established during Penney’s 2020 bankruptcy to manage the leases of 160 stores and six distribution centers and, ultimately, to sell them. The trust has sold 40-plus of the properties to various buyers, and the 117 parcels that Onyx is interested in are the last ones left, per Copper Property documents.
As of press time, Onyx has received no response to its offer, the spokesperson said Monday. The Copper Property trust and other representatives for the property didn’t respond to multiple requests from Retail Dive for comment.
A spokesperson for Catalyst Brands, which operates J.C. Penney stores, said the 117 stores all have long-term leases, so a real estate deal wouldn’t impact their operations. The stores involved are found across 35 states, per Onyx’s letter of intent.
“Any potential transaction is merely a transfer of ownership of the physical stores and would not change the nature of our long-term leases on these locations,” the Catalyst spokesperson said.
J.C. Penney had a rough holiday quarter and didn’t enjoy the robust Q1 experienced by other retailers early this year. The department store’s Q1 net sales fell nearly 5% year over year to $1.25 billion, and gross margin contracted. But net losses declined, and some analysts see Catalyst’s backing as buying time for the retailer’s struggling turnaround.
