🛌New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy & CCAA Filing - Hollander Sleep Products LLC🛌

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Hollander Sleep Products LLC

May 19, 2019

Florida-based private equity owned Hollander Sleep Products LLC and six affiliates (including one Canadian affiliate) have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The debtors are “the largest bed pillow and mattress pad manufacturer in North America.” The debtors produce pillows, comforters and mattress pads for the likes of Ralph Lauren, Simmons, Beautyrest, Nautica and Calvin Klein; their products are available at major retailers like Costco Wholesale Corporation ($COST), Kohl’s Corporation ($KSS), Walmart Inc. ($WMT) and Target Inc. ($TGT) and with the Marriott International Inc. ($MAR) chain of hotels; they have a main showroom in New York City, nine manufacturing facilities throughout the US and Canada, and a sourcing, product development and quality control office in China. Speaking of China, 60% of the debtors’ top 10 creditors are Chinese companies.

Why bankruptcy? Interestingly, the debtors colorfully ask, “How Did We Get Here?” And the answer appears to be a combination of (a) “[r]ecent substantial price increases on materials” like fiber, down and feathers, (b) acquisition integration costs, (c) too much competition in a low margin space, (d) employee wage increases “as a result of natural wage inflation and the tight job market” and (e) too much leverage. The debtors burned through $20mm in the last year on material cost increases alone (it opted NOT to pass price increases on to the consumer), straining liquidity to the point that, at the time of filing, the company had less than $1mm of cash on hand.

With the filing, the debtors seek to restructure approximately $166.5mm of term debt, effectuating a debt-for-equity swap in the new reorganized entity (plus participation in a $30mm exit facility). 100% of the debtors’ term lenders support the plan. As does lender and equity sponsor, Sentinel Capital Partners LLC. That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that they truly want to own the post-reorg company. Indeed, the debtors have indicated that while they march towards plan confirmation (which they say will be in four months), they will also entertain the possibility of a sale of the company to a third-party. These dual-track chapter 11 cases are all the rage these days, see, e.g., Shopko.

If approved by the bankruptcy court, the bankruptcy will be funded by a $118mm DIP credit facility which will infuse the debtors with $28mm in incremental new money and roll-up the debtors’ prepetition asset-backed first priority credit facility.

The debtors note that “the sleep industry as a whole is both healthy and growing. Market trends favor healthy lifestyle sectors, and the basic bedding segment is generally recession resilient.” We have no quibble with either comment. The company believes that by, among other things, (i) delevering its balance sheet, (ii) gaining access to new capital, (iii) engaging in selective price increases, (iv) implementing material efficiencies, (v) streamlining manufacturing, and (vi) building out their e-commerce channel, it will have a more sustainable path forward. Whether that path will be taken at the direction of their lenders or a strategic buyer remains to be seen.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge Wiles)

  • Capital Structure: $125mm ABL ($43mm funded), $166.5mm term loan

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Joshua Sussberg, Christopher Greco, Joseph Graham, Andrew McGaan, Laura Krucks)

    • Board of Directors: Eric Bommer, Michael Fabian, Steve Cumbow, Chris Baker

    • Disinterested Director: Matthew Kahn

      • Legal: Proskauer Rose LLP

    • Financial Advisor: Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC (Mark Pfefferle)

    • Investment Banker: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. (Saul Burian)

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition and ($90mm) DIP ABL Agent: Wells Fargo Bank NA

      • Legal: Goldberg Kohn Ltd. (Randall Klein, Prisca Kim) & (local) Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Laura Metzger, Peter Amend)

    • ($28mm) DIP Term Loan Agent:

5/2/19, #2

💄New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Glansaol Holdings Inc.💄

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December 19, 2018

A week after Glossier CEO Emily Weiss revealed that the direct-to-consumer beauty brand hit $100mm in sales, Glansaol, a platform company that acquires, integrates and cultivates a portfolio of prestige beauty brands — including a direct-to-consumer brand — filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The company owns a trio of three main brands: (a) Laura Geller, a distributor of female beauty and personal care products sold primarily on QVC and wholesale, (b) Julep, a wholesale distributor of high-end nail polish, skincare and cosmetic products with a direct-to-consumer and “subscription box” model, and (c) Clark’s Botanicals, a skincare retailer, which sells primarily via e-commerce (including Amazon) and QVC.

The company indicated that “a general shift away from brick-and-mortar shopping, evolving consumer demographics, and changing trends” precipitated its bankruptcy filing. More specifically, profit drivers, historically, have been broadcast shopping networks and wholesale distribution. But both QVC and large retailers have cut back orders significantly amidst a broader industry shakeout. Compounding matters is the fact that the company’s top two customers account for over 60% of total receivables. As we always say, customer concentration is NEVER a good thing.

Moreover, the company added:

…the Debtors have been unable to replace key revenue generators due to: (a) the increasingly competitive industry landscape coinciding with the downturn in the brick and mortar retail sector; (b) the decline in broadcast shopping network sales; and (c) the downturn of the Company’s single-brand subscription business, which faces competition from new entrants that offer subscriptions covering a variety of brands.

Hmmm. Insert Birchbox here? Perhaps Glansaol ought to have entered into a partnership with Walgreens! 🤔

What happens when you can’t move product? You build up inventory. Which, for a variety of reasons, is no bueno. Per the company:

…the decline in sales has saddled the Debtors with a significant oversupply of inventory, which has forced the Debtors to sell goods at steep markdowns and destroy certain products, further tightening margins and draining liquidity. Oversupply of inventory, coupled with higher returns and chargebacks described below, has also significantly increased the Debtors’ costs for warehouses and other third-party logistics providers.

Interestingly, the company aggregated the three brands in the first place because of perceived supply chain synergies. Per the company:

The strategy was put into practice in late 2016 and early 2017 when the Debtors acquired a trio of rising prestige beauty companies ― Laura Geller, Julep, and Clark’s Botanicals. The combination was designed to realize the benefit of natural synergies without any cannibalization. The brands share relatively similar supply chains where it was thought efficiencies could be realized, but they featured different price points and consumer profiles. For example, while Laura Geller appeals to consumers over the age of 35 and is primarily sold through wholesale retailers and broadcast shopping networks, Julep caters to a younger generation through its online business and experience-driven nail salons.

We love synergies. They always seem to be good in theory and nonexistent in practice. To point:

the Debtors were never able to achieve significant cost savings related to shared services among their brands. Upon the Debtors’ acquisitions of Laura Geller, Julep and Clark’s in 2016, the plan was to ultimately consolidate shared services, including supply chain, senior management, administrative support, human resources, information technology support, accounting, finance and legal services. The brands, however, were never fully integrated. Instead, the Company is saddled with a substantial legacy investment in a new ERP system, which was put into place ahead of cross-organizational efficiency initiatives and right-sizing functionality. Accordingly, the costs savings attributed to synergies, which had been a pillar of the Debtors’ original business model, were never realized.

Which is why we generally tend to be skeptical whenever we hear about cost savings and synergies as a basis for M&A (cough, Refinitiv).

Given all of the above, the company has been engaged in a marketing process since roughly February 2018 running, in the interim, based on its credit facility and equity infusions. Now, though, the company has a stalking horse bidder in tow in the form of AS Beauty LLC, which has agreed to purchase the company’s brands and related capital assets for approximately $16.2mm. The company’s prepetition lender, SunTrust Bank, has agreed to provide a $15mm DIP credit facility which, along with cash collateral, will fund the cases.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge Wiles)

  • Capital Structure: $7.2mm RCF (SunTrust Bank)

  • Company Professionals:

    • Legal: Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (Brian Lennon, Daniel Forman, Andrew Mordkoff)

    • Financial Advisor: Emerald Capital Advisors (John Madden)

    • Claims Agent: Omni Management Group Inc. (click on the case name above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition Secured & DIP Lender: SunTrust Bank (Legal: Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs LLP — Rufus Dorsey, Eric Anderson, James Gadsden

    • Stalking Horse Purchaser: AS Beauty LLC (Legal: Sills Cummis & Gross PC — Michael Goldsmith, George Hirsch)

    • Private Equity Sponsor: Warburg Pincus Private Equity XII Funds

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc.

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Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc.

November 6, 2018

On Sunday, November 4, 2018, we wrote the following in our “Fast Forward” segment:

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ($ANW) is now subject to a fraud probe by international auditors. This thing will be in a bankruptcy court near you before too long.

We didn’t expect that prediction to come to fruition so quickly!

Admittedly, Aegean, one of the world’s largest independent marine fuel logistics companies with 57 owned and chartered vessels, has been a slow moving train towards bankruptcy for some time. The recent revelation of fraud — yes, fraud — is just the cherry on top. (PETITION Note: in frothy times come desperate shenanigans. This won’t be the last bankruptcy filed in the near-term that, in part, will have an element of fraud in the story.) And, alas, earlier, Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. and 74 affiliated debtors filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The more immediate trigger? The maturity of its 4% convertible unsecured notes.

Aegean blames an over-saturated market, limitations imposed by its lenders under the credit facilities, and…wait for it…the fraud…as reasons for its bankruptcy filing. Wait. Why are we describing the debtors’ ails in words when they’ve provided us with some crafty graphics to illustrate, in part, the “perfect storm of circumstances” that have plagued them:

Source: First Day Declaration

Source: First Day Declaration

Aegean intends to use the bankruptcy process to address its capital structure (namely the maturity), stabilize operations and sell to Mercuria Energy Group Limited, a private company that, back in August, became the sole lender under both the debtors’ US and Global credit facilities. Mercuria also provided a DIP proposal that consists of a $160mm US credit facility, a $300mm global credit facility, and a $72mm term loan that the debtors deemed better than a proposed facility from an ad hoc group of unsecured convertible noteholders. The question will be to what degree a more robust and competitive sale process emerges now that this thing is finally in bankruptcy court.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D.N.Y. (Judge Wiles)

  • Capital Structure: $131.7mm US credit facility (ABN AMRO Bank NV), $249.6mm global credit facility (ABN AMRO Bank NV), $206.6mm aggregated across ten secured term loans, $172.5mm 4.25% convertible unsecured notes due 2021 (U.S. Bank NA), $94.55mm 4.00% convertible unsecured notes due 2018 (Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas)  

  • Company Professionals:

    • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (James Sprayragen, Jonathan Henes, Marc Kieselstein, Ross Kwasteniet, Cristine Pirro Schwarzman, Adam Paul, Benjamin Winger, Christopher Hayes, Bryan Uelk)

    • Independent Directors: Donald Moore, Raymond Bartoszek, Tyler Baron)

    • Audit Committee of the Board of Directors

      • Legal: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (Tyler Nurnberg)

    • Financial Advisor: EY Turnaround Management Services LLC (Andrew Hede)

    • Investment Banker: Moelis & Company LLC (Zul Jamal)

    • Claims Agent: Epiq Corporate Restructuring LLC (*click on company name above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition Agent: ABN AMRO Capital USA LLC

      • Legal: Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (Ana Alfonso)

    • Prepetition Agent: Aegean Baltic Bank SA

      • Legal: White & Case LLP (Scott Greissman, Elizabeth Feld, Mark Franke)

    • Indenture Trustee for the 4% ‘18 Convertible Senior Notes

      • Legal: Ropes & Gray LLP (Mark Somerstein, Patricia Chen)

    • Largest Equity Holder/Stalking Horse Buyer: Mercuria Energy Group Limited

      • Legal: Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP (Marc Ashley, Robert Kirby)

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, U.S. Bank National Association, American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc.)

      • Legal: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Ira Dizengoff, Philip Dublin, Kevin Zuzolo)

      • Financial Advisor: AlixPartners LLP

Source: First Day Declaration

Source: First Day Declaration

Updated 11/17/18

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Global Brokerage Inc. ($GLBR)

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Global Brokerage Inc.

  • 12/11/17 Recap: Holding company which holds, as its primary asset, an interest in a non-debtor online forex trading company filed a prepackaged bankruptcy to restructure its balance sheet. Troubles for the company began in early 2015 when "unprecedented volatility" in the euro-to-franc currency rate led the Swiss National Bank to eliminate its 1.2 france per euro floor. Instantly, the company was in breach of certain regulatory capital requirements and had to cease operations. After getting rescue financing from Leucadia National Corp. - bridging the company back into regulatory compliance - the company knew that the short term bridge would become an issue. A looming NASDAQ delisting triggered a "fundamental change" call provision on the notes which, of course, the company couldn't pay. The company's plan, solicited prior to filing, is basically an amend-and-extend. The term loan maturity is pushed one year and the converts will get (secured) take-back paper in the same nominal amount with maturity extended five years (with an interest rate uptick from 2.25% to 7%...PIK Toggle, of course). 
  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge Wiles)
  • Capital Structure: $300mm secured term loan (Leucadia National Corp), $172.5mm 2.25% convertible notes (Bank of New York Mellon)    
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: King & Spalding LLP (Arthur Steinberg, Michael Handler, Sarah Borders, Thaddeus Wilson, Elizabeth Dechant)
    • Financial Advisor: Perella Weinberg Partners
    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • Ad Hoc Group of Convertible Noteholders (683 Capital Partners LP, Lazard Asset Management LLC, Penderfund Capital Management Ltd., Phoenix Investment Advisor LLC, Wolverine Flagship Fund Trading Limited)
      • Legal: Vinson & Elkins LLP (Steven Abramowitz, David Meyer, Lauren Kazer, Eric Hilmo)
    • Leucadia National Corp.
      • Legal: Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP (Eric Ivestor, Gregory Fernicola)
    • Significant Equityholder: Franklin Resources Inc.