Women’s clothing retailer Ascena Retail Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday.

The Mahwah-based group, which is parent to Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lane Bryant, Justice, Lou & Grey, and Catherines, will close all Catherines stores and sell all Catherines’ intellectual property assets.

Ascena will also close “a significant number” of Justice stores and “a select number” of Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lane Bryant and Lou & Grey stores.

Ascena entered into a restructuring support agreement with over 68 percent of its secured term lenders. The RSA contemplates agreed-upon terms for a pre-arranged financial restructuring plan that will significantly reduce Ascena’s debt by approximately $1 billion, the company announced.

The company filed Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to implement the terms of the RSA.

“The meaningful progress we have made driving sustainable growth, improving our operating margins and strengthening our financial foundation has been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we took a strategic step forward today to protect the future of the business for all of our stakeholders,” said Carrie Teffner, interim executive chair of Ascena. “The RSA formalizes our lenders’ overwhelming support for a comprehensive plan to deleverage our balance sheet, right-size our operations and inject new capital into the business. With the cash generated from our ongoing operations and the new money financing commitments we received from our lenders, we expect to have sufficient liquidity to meet our operational obligations during the court-supervised process. We expect to move through this process on an expedited timeframe as our talented leadership team, established over the last year, stays focused on generating profitable growth and driving value for customers and stakeholders.”

Chief Executive Officer Gary Muto, said the restructuring and steps the retailer is taking to optimize its portfolio and store fleet “mark a new start for our company and will allow us to expand our customer-focused strategies across their mobile, online, and store experiences.”

Ascena entered into an asset purchase agreement with City Chic Collective Ltd.

City Chic will purchase Catherines intellectual property assets and transition Catherines’ e-commerce business to a subsidiary of City Chic. Pursuant to section 363 of the bankruptcy code, City Chic will serve as the “stalking horse bidder” in a court-supervised auction process and the purchase agreement is subject to certain conditions, including higher and better offers.

Ascena has received commitments for $150 million in a new money term loan from its existing lenders, which is expected to be sufficient to meet the retailer’s operational and restructuring needs

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to the company and Alvarez and Marsal Holdings LLC is serving as restructuring advisor. Guggenheim Securities LLC is serving as the company’s financial advisor.