New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - High Ridge Brands Co.

High Ridge Brands Co.

December 18, 2019

Connecticut-based, private-equity-owned (Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC) High Ridge Brands Co. (“HRB”) filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. High Ridge what? Right, we wouldn’t expect you to know what HRB is but you may very well know several of the brands in its portfolio. Ever visit Nana’s house for the weekend, hop into the shower, and see a boatload of VO5 or White Rain shampoo on the shelf? Zest soap? Or have you ever seen some shadeball do this on the street?

Oh yeah. Nothing says class like Binaca! Anyway, all four of the aforementioned products are in HRB’s brand portfolio. That portfolio also includes the Coast, Firefly, LA Looks, Rave, Reach, Salon Grafix, SGX NYC, Thicker Fuller Hair, and the Zero Frizz brands; the most recent portfolio addition was, in late 2016, Dr. Fresh, which sounds like a Marvel superhero but is an oral-care brand focused on value toothbrushes and the like. This acquisition marked an expansion away from HRB’s historical focus on primarily skin cleaning and hair care products in the “value” segment. HRB describes their business model as follows:

“Given their focus on value price points, the goal of the Debtors’ early strategy was to minimize costs, which they did by concentrating supply and optimizing logistics to leverage unit volumes to create a low cost structure with fully outsourced manufacturing and logistics primarily in the United States. Said differently, the Debtors’ original business plan revolved around low-cost, low-margin, and high-volume product distribution.”

Interestingly, the gangbusters economy has not been so gangbusters for HRB and, by extension here, CD&R’s equity. HRB, therefore, has recently pivoted:

Given that the Company’s hair care and skin cleansing brand portfolio was concentrated in product segments (e.g., bar soap and hair spray) and price points (e.g., opening price points and value) that were shrinking due to shifting consumer preferences and a strong economy that led to a reduction in shelf space allotted to value priced products, the Debtors have focused recently on transformative innovation to drive topline growth in growing segments (e.g., natural products, texturizers, and body wash) at slightly higher price points. The company has also invested in capability and capacity across the organization to elevate the speed it can bring products to market, its customer service, and its performance management. These tactics, in conjunction with their recent acquisitions, have positioned the Debtors well for sustainable, profitable growth.

Now, if that last bit about razzle dazzle change and high prospects seems like a sales pitch to you, well, give yourself a pat on the back because that is precisely the point of this chapter 11 filing. And the first day filing papers reflect this: the First Day Declaration is replete with chest-pounding talk about how great HRB’s asset-light model is, how large the total addressable market is for their products, how diversified and recognizable their brands are, and how deep their customer relationships are. With respect to the latter, HRB touts its key customers: “Walmart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Walgreens, Kroger, Family Dollar, 99 Cents Only Stores, CVS, HEB, Wakefern and other blue chip retailers.” UM, WOULD THESE BE THE VERY SAME CUSTOMERS WHO ARE TAKING AWAY HRB’S SHELF SPACE? 🤔😜

Someone will have to buy into all of ⬆️ and disregard HRB’s actual recent performance — performance that has sucked sh*t to the tune of $301.1mm in net sales and a $62.5mm net loss (and $35.5mm of adjusted EBITDA…adjusted for what we wonder?). We would love to see the data room: given increased emphasis on higher quality product at affordable prices, among other factors, we bet the numbers are showing disturbing quarterly declines but that’s just a guess.

HRB highlights the following as events that led to its chapter cases:

• Increased competition in the personal care industry and a shift away from its value brands;

• An inability to account for increasing commodity costs when marketing to value customers;

• A late shift to higher-margin products;

• An education challenge in that HRB will now need to educate the consumer about its newer, higher-margin brands — something that has and will elevate marketing costs; and

• A soap supplier (a) jamming HRB with higher costs and HRB not having replacements at the ready and (b) failing to deliver the supply HRB needed.

Of course, there’s also the capital structure. HRB has over $500mm of debt split between a $50mm revolving credit facility, a $213.4mm term loan, and $261mm of '25 8.875% senior unsecured notes (as well as $28.7mm of trade debt).

Tellingly, HRB wasn’t able to get its lenders on board with a restructuring transaction. Per HRB:

…the Debtors explored (1) a consensual restructuring among the Debtors, the Prepetition First Lien Lenders, and the Noteholders; (2) a plan of reorganization sponsored by the Prepetition First Lien Lenders; (3) a toggle plan with a focus on a sale of the Debtors’ assets with a reorganization backstop; (4) a chapter 11 sale process with the Prepetition First Lien Lenders acting as a stalking horse bidder; and (5) a chapter 11 sale process funded by a debtor-in-possession facility provided by the Prepetition First Lien Lenders or some subset thereof.

The Debtors’ initial goal was to effectuate a consensual restructuring out of court, and the Debtors engaged with both the Prepetition First Lien Lenders and the Ad Hoc Group to explore this possibility prior to commencing the Sale Process … in September of this year. As part of this, the Debtors provided the Ad Hoc Group with a significant amount of due diligence and held a number of meetings with the Ad Hoc Group’s professionals. Although the initial discussions did result in the Ad Hoc Group providing the Debtors with an initial set of potential terms for a restructuring, negotiations ultimately dwindled such that the Debtors decided they needed to pivot to other restructuring alternatives.

Now, it’s hard to say, from the outside looking in, what this all means. Getting this kind of deal done out-of-court was — depending on how concentrated the debt holdings are — probably unrealistic. It sounds like the lenders lacked not only the numbers to get something done but the conviction. There’s no restructuring support agreement here. There’s not even a stalking horse bidder. So, none of that is great.

On the plus side … maybe?… an earlier DIP commitment for $70mm has been decreased to $40mm ($20mm of which is a roll-up of prepetition amounts). HRB claims that this a reflection of the “liquidity position and forecasted liquidity needs over the course of the…cases” which would suggest that liquidity has improved since first discussing DIP financing back in August. Alternatively, it could mean that the DIP lenders are skittish given what appears to be a significant gap in the perception of value. The DIP matures in four months — presumably enough time to allow a sale process to play out through the beginning of February. Now the pressure is on PJT Partners Inc. ($PJT) to deliver a potential buyer.

*****

One final thing to note here: the petition lists HRB’s top 50 creditors and, of that 50, only a handful are trade creditors. Typically you’d see the indenture trustee listed as the top creditor, subsuming the entirety of the outstanding debt issuance outstanding. Here, HRB individually listed each of the noteholders. This could mean that the company has, for the most part, kept its trade current, relegating a very small subset to unpaid status. Indeed, those few creditors listed are owed more than 50% of the outstanding trade debt.

Furthermore, the company filed a critical vendor motion seeking to pay $26.5mm in critical vendor, shipper, 503b9 and foreign vendor claims. That conveniently wouldn’t leave much of an unsecured creditor body outside of the notes.

• Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Shannon)

• Capital Structure: $50mm RCF & $213.4mm TL (BMO Harris Bank NA), $261mm '25 8.875% senior unsecured notes (Wilmington Trust)

• Professionals:

  • Legal: Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Robert Brady, Edmon Morton, Ian Bambrick, Allison Mielke, Jared Kochenash) & Debevoise & Plimpton LLLP (M. Natasha Labovitz, Nick Kaluk III)

  • Financial Advisor/CRO: Ankura Consulting Group LLC (Benjamin Jones)

  • Investment Banker: PJT Partners LP (John Singh)

  • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

• Other Parties in Interest:

  • Equity Sponsor: Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC

  • DIP Administrative Agent & Agent under the Prepetition First Lien Credit Agreement: BMO Harris Bank NA

    • Legal: Winston & Strawn LLP (Daniel McGuire, Gregory Gartland, Dov Goodman) & Womble Bond Dickinson US LLP (Matthew Ward, Morgan Patterson)

  • Indenture Trustee for the 8.875% ‘25 Senior Notes: Wilmington Trust NA

    • Legal: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP (Todd Meyers, Gianfranco Finizio) & Morris James LLP (Eric Monzo, Brya Keilson)

  • Ad Hoc Group of 8.875% ‘25 Senior Noteholders

🚗New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Total Finance Investment Inc.🚗

Total Finance Investment Inc.

February 13, 2019

We’ve been asking about distress in the automotive industry since our inception and most recently noted in “🚗The Auto Sector is Quietly Restructuring🚗 that activity is picking up in the space. Admittedly, this case isn’t exactly what we had in mind. Nevertheless, earlier this week, Total Finance Investment Inc. and Car Outlet Holding Inc. (and affiliated debtors) filed for bankruptcy in the Northern District of Illinois; the debtors are an integrated chain of buy-here pay-here used vehicle dealerships in Illinois and Wisconsin.

What does “buy-here pay-here” mean? The debtors sold used vehicles, provided financing, AND operated an insurance broker to assist customers with procurement of automobile insurance coverage from third-party insurance providers. They “specifically catered to the fast-growing and underserved population of “unbanked” and “underbanked” Hispanic consumers in Northern Illinois and Milwaukee, which historically made up approximately 70% of the Debtors’ customer base.” There’s just one problem with all of this? Competition is BRUTAL. Per the company:

In recent years, BHPH dealerships have been subject to increasing industry-wide pressures that have negatively impacted their operating results, driving a number of the Debtors’ BHPH competitors out of business. The used vehicle dealership market is highly fragmented and fiercely competitive—with approximately 1,800 used car dealerships in Illinois alone—and the Debtors historically competed with other large used car dealerships like CarMax and DriveTime, as well as other BHPH operations. The fragmented nature of the industry and relatively low barriers to entry have led to steep competition between dealerships, putting significant downward pressure on the margins BHPH dealerships earn on vehicle sales. Further, as a result of a protracted period of increased capital availability, indirect auto lenders such as banks, credit unions, and finance companies have in recent years moved to originate subprime auto loans and offer attractive financing terms to customers with lower than average credit scores, putting pressure on BHPH operators’ market share among their traditional customer base.

Because, like, why not? Nothing has ever gone wrong when there has been excessive competition fiercely pursuing the subprime market. 🙈Ironically, the day before this filing, The Washington Post reported that 7mm Americans have, to the surprise of economists, stopped paying their auto loans. Whooooops. Per the WP:

The data show that most of the borrowers whose auto loans have recently moved into delinquency are people younger than 30 years old and people with low credit scores. Eight percent of borrowers with credit scores below 620 — otherwise known as subprime — went from good standing to delinquent on their auto loans in the fourth quarter of 2018.

No. Bueno. Anyway, back to the debtors. Read this part and tell us you don’t suffer PTSD circa-2008:

…capital markets became increasingly accessible for indirect auto lenders, many of which began to originate subprime loans and offer attractive financing terms to borrowers that historically had been overwhelmingly BHPH customers. The Debtors’ prior management team responded to the change in market conditions by providing larger loans with longer terms, accepting smaller down payments, and accepting transactions with increasingly negative equity in order to increase sales volume. The shift to offering riskier loans to subprime customers ultimately led to the Debtors experiencing historically high delinquency rates and losses beginning in the second half of 2015.

But wait. There’s more:

In addition to increased competition in the auto lending industry, the Debtors have also incurred significant expenses to ensure compliance with new regulations enacted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Furthermore, the political climate following the 2016 presidential election has had a negative impact on the spending habits of the Debtors’ traditional customer base in a manner that negatively impacted the Debtors’ operating results.

The debtors, therefore, suffered a consolidated pre-tax loss of approximately $29.9mm. MAGA!!!

The company has been trying to improve cash flows and operating results for years. One major initiative included, as far back as 2016, tightening underwriting standards to reduce consumer finance portfolio losses. We sure hope that there are others who took similar steps given the Washington Post report. But we digress.

Back in 2017, the debtors also received an $84mm equity infusion from Marubeni Corporation. Nevertheless, the debtors continued to hemorrhage to the point of compromising compliance with certain financial covenants under their senior secured debt facility with BMO Harris Bank NA. Thereafter, the company entered into a series of forbearance agreements with BMO as it attempted to figure out either a refinancing or an asset sale. In the end, the debtors obtained a restructuring support agreement and filed for bankruptcy to liquidate the used auto business and transfer its auto loan servicing business to a third-party servicer (PETITION Note: earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the mortgage servicing business is en fuego — notwithstanding the Ditech Holding Corporation bankruptcy (see here). We wonder: what sort of demand is there for subprime auto loan servicing businesses?). BMO Harris will fund the estates with a $4mm DIP credit facility.

So we’re left with this question: is this chapter 11 filing the canary in the coal mine for subprime auto lenders?

• Jurisdiction: N.D. of Illinois (Judge Doyle)

• Capital Structure: see below.

• Professionals:

  • Legal: Sidley Austin LLP (Bojan Guzina, William Evanoff, Jackson Garvey)

  • Conflicts Legal: Togut Segal & Segal LLP

  • Financial Advisor: Portage Point Partners LLC

  • Interim Management: Development Specialists Inc.

  • Investment Banker: Keefe Bruyette & Woods and Miller Buckfire & Co. LLC

  • Claims Agent: KCC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

• Other Professionals:

  • Prepetition Lender: BMO Harris Bank NA

    • Legal: Chapman and Cutler LLP (David Audley, Mia D’Andrea)
      

Source: First Day Declaration

New Chapter 11 Filing - RMH Franchise Holdings, Inc.

RMH Franchise Holdings, Inc.

05/08/18

In 🍟Casual Dining is a Hot Mess🍟, we wrote:

…don’t let the lull in restaurant activity fool you. As we’ve stated before, this is a space worth watching given intense competition and the rise of food delivery and meal kit services - both direct-to-consumer and in-grocery.

Looks like we spoke to soon about a lull. Earlier this week RMH Franchise Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. If you’ve never heard of RMH Franchise Holdings Inc., have no fear. You haven’t. Nor had we. But it is purportedly the second largest franchisee operator of Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants, operating 159 restaurants across 15 states. The company represents a bit less than 10% of all Applebee’s locations. RMH cobbled together this footprint after a string of acquisitions between 2012 and 2015, growing quickly and expanding its geographical scope.

Alas, Applebee’s is a casual dining establishment and, as previously covered, casual dining is struggling. The company notes,

…significant challenges encountered by the Applebee’s brand generally, and specific managerial decisions made on behalf of it by its franchisor, Applebee’s International, Inc. (the “Franchisor”), have negatively impacted the Debtors’ business operations and left them facing near-term liquidity issues.

These numbers paint a stark picture:

For the trailing twelve months ending March 31, 2018,4 the Debtors generated approximately $375.9 million in gross revenue, and $12.6 million of EBITDA, on a consolidated basis, a drop of roughly 60% in two years from the Debtors’ peak of $431.1 million and $31.4 million, respectively, in the twelve months ending March 31, 2016.

60%. Sixty…percent. Y.I.K.E.S. Much of this is attributable to a steep decline in same store sales over a period of years.

It is apparently also attributable to misguided directives from Applebee’s International Inc. (“AI”), the franchisor. Efforts to convert to wood-fired grill platforms and engage consumers with new ad campaigns flopped, despite the additional capital expenditures that those efforts required. In addition,

These difficulties were exacerbated by generally increased food costs, higher minimum wage rates and other labor costs, and increasing rents.

Consequently, the company spent the last year trying to improve operational efficiency and reduce operating expenses. It (and its agent Hilco Real Estate LLC) renegotiated leases with landlords, shed underperforming locations and negotiated with the corporate overlords to reduce corporate expenses. What it didn’t secure, however, was a long-term definitive agreement with Applebee’s International Inc. (“AI”). Instead, AI indicated that intends to issue a notice of termination of the company’s franchise rights in Arizona and Texas. That, friends, is what you call capitulation.

And the result, friends, is a crash landing into bankruptcy to trigger the automatic stay. Now the company will shed additional leases, negotiate with AI, and determine what options remain for a casual dining establishment that faces a headwinds coming multiple directions.

• Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Shannon)
• Capital Structure: $68.4mm debt (Bank of America), $30mm (BMO Harris Bank NA)    
• Company Professionals:
  • Legal: Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (M. Blake Cleary, Kenneth Enos, Robert F. Poppiti, Jr., Justin H. Rucki, Tara C. Pakrouh)
  • Financial Advisor: Mastodon Ventures Inc.
  • Real Estate Advisor: Hilco Real Estate LLC
  • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on case name above for free docket access).
• Other Parties in Interest:

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Maurice Sporting Goods Inc.

Maurice Sporting Goods Inc.

• 11/20/17 Recap: Another retailer with a deep legacy in this country has filed for bankruptcy. The plan is to sell to Middleton Management Company LLC, which has entered into a letter of intent with the company. We bet its for a fire sale price. But, first, let's take a step back: here, an Illinois-based manufacturer and distributor of 60,000 SKUs of outdoor sporting goods (fishing products, terminal tackle products, shooting sports accessories, etc.) has filed for bankruptcy, potentially leaving its relationship with its single largest customer, Walmart ($WMT), in limbo. The company blamed its debt (some of which was taken on to fund an acquisition spree from 2004-2011), a cost-overrun investment in a new state-of-the-art combined distribution center, the general retail environment, and dominoes. Wait, what? Dominoes? From the First Day Declaration, "The Debtors have also faced losses as a result of the recent bankruptcies of several retailers, including The Sports Authority, MC Sports (also known as Michigan Sporting Goods Distributors), Gander Mountain and Sport Chalet, and a generally challenging retail environment." We'd start the funeral dirge for sporting goods, generally, but earlier this week Hibbett Sports Inc. ($HIBB) reported earnings and surprised to the upside. Today, alone, the stock was up 13.74%. And Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. ($DKS) was up 1%. So have no fear kids: there are still gonna be physical places where you can check out some tackle products and, gulp, maybe shooting sports accessories...??
• Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Sontchi)
• Capital Structure: $45mm debt (BMO Harris)    
• Company Professionals:
  • Legal: Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Robert Brady, Michael Nestor, Justin Rucki, Ashley Jacobs, Tara Pakrouh)
  • Financial Advisor: Portage Point Partners
  • Investment Banker: Livingstone Partners
  • Claims Agent: Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions LLC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
• Other Parties in Interest:
  • BMO Harris
    • Legal: Vedder Price PC (Douglas Lipke) & (local) Pepper Hamilton LLP (David Stratton)

Updated 11/23/17