New Chapter 11 Filing - Central Grocers Inc.

Central Grocers Inc.

5/4/17 Recap: May the Fourth be with you. Illinois-based food coop - the 7th largest in the nation - founded in, gulp, 1917, filed for bankruptcy to pursue a sale of its Strack & Wan Til stores and its distribution center (after certain creditors tried to force a bankruptcy on it). The company was initially founded with 32 supermarket owners seeking increased purchasing power through strength in numbers. Today, the coop supplies over 400 stores in the Chicago area. The coop supports its own brand, Centrella, which, being frank here, is probably value detract because nothing says "quality" like shoddy label design. That "Beef Stew" and "Chunk Pineapple" (see below) looks tasty AF, doesn't it? This makes us want to blow chunks. Seriously, though, this is another story of disruption. Disruption caused by the commodities markets, in part, with beef, chicken, eggs and dairy generally being at relatively low prices. But also disruption caused by new entrants into the grocery segment, including Walmart, Target, Costco, and dollar stores. And, of course, Amazon, which is increasingly becoming Darth Vader, even though we're pretty certain nobody we know actually uses AmazonFresh for produce and the like. But, whatever, when in doubt, blame Amazon. That's a much better excuse than 1917-style design sensibility and a classic innovator's dilemma.
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (transferred to N.D. of Illinois)
Capital Structure: $225mm '18 RCF (PNC Bank NA), $22.5mm TL (Bank of the West)
Company Professionals:
- Legal: Weil (Ray Schrock, Stephen Karotkin, Sunny Singh, Daniel Gwen, Danielle Donovan) & (local) Richards Layton & Finger PA (Mark Collins, Paul Heath, Brett Haywood, David Queroli) & (local) McDonald Hopkins LLC (David Agay, Rion Vaughan)
- Financial Advisor: Conway MacKenzie Inc. (Donald Harer, Alpesh Amin, Michael Musso, John Cannon, Matthew Sedigh, Daniel Johnson, Lauren Leach, Harry Bramson, Jennifer Chaing, Joseph Wirija, Michael Kulkarni, Michael Flynn)
- Investment Banker: Peter J. Soloman Company (Derek Pitts)
- Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on company name for docket)
Other Parties in Interest:
- PNC Bank NA
  - Legal: Blank Rome LLP (Regina Stango Kelbon, Victoria Guilfoyle, Mark Rabinowitz, Gregory Vizza, Michael Schaedle)
- Bank of the West
  - Legal: Thompson Coburn LLP (Mark Bossi, Victor Des Laurier, Diona Rogers)
- Successful Bidder
  - Legal: Duane Morris LLP (Lawrence Kotler, Rosanne Ciambrone)
- Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors
  - Legal: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP (Todd Meyers, David Posner, Gianfranco Finizio) & (local) Saul Ewing LLP (Mark Minuti, Lucian Murley) & (local) Arnstein & Lehr LLP (Barry Chatz, Kevin Morse, William Williams)
  - Financial Advisor: FTI Consulting Inc. (Conor Tully)

Updated 7/13/17