8/10/17 Recap: The Auburn Washington-based specialty retailer of lingerie, sexual health and wellness products with 46 locations has filed for bankruptcy after failing to find an out-of-court buyer for its 5000 SKUs of lubes, $265 vibrators, sex toys and other fun stuff. This place sounds...liberated. And while the sex retail industry is allegedly gaining acceptance - at least according to the Company's own filing - it seems that Peekay was unable or incapable of capitalizing on it given its capital structure (PETITION Note: Agent Provocateur also filed for bankruptcy this year so query whether this really is a brick-and-mortar business or whether people would really rather discreetly order their sex toys on Amazon...our money is on the latter. Prior to the internet, options were a bit more limited, we gather.). Consequently, the company's Term Loan A Lenders have consented to the use of its cash collateral and are credit bidding $31mm of their debt to acquire the company after a long and failed attempt by the Company to explore other out-of-court options (which apparently included an IPO...WTF? What would the ticker be? "SEX"? "DIK"? "ASS"? We could do this all day.).
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Shannon)
Capital Structure: $38.2mm first lien term loan ($27mm term loan A + $8.4mm interest/fees, $14.4mm term loan B + $1.98mm interest/fees), $19mm PIK seller notes
Investment Banker: SSG Advisors LLC (J. Scott Victor)
Claims Agent: Rust Consulting/Omni Bankruptcy (*click on company name above for free docket access)
Other Parties in Interest:
Term A Lenders/TLA Acquisition Corp. (Alpine Associates, Alpine Heritage LP, Alpine Heritage II LP, Alpine Heritage Offshore Fund Ltd., Chatham Capital Management IV LLC, The K2 Principal Fund LP, Tor Capital LLC, Twin Haven Special Opportunities Fund IV LP)
Legal: Cullen and Dykman LLP (S. Jason Teele, Nicole Stefanelli) & (local) Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP (Christopher Samis, L. Katherine Good, Aaron Stulman, Kevin Shaw)
Financial Advisor: The DAK Group (Sheon Karol, Ari Fuchs, Claudia Levine)
2/27/17 Recap: High-flying (ugh) drone startup that put together kick-a$$ production videos and crowdfunded tens of millions of dollars ($34.8mm to be exact) from tens of thousands of generous suckers (61.450 to be exact) filed for bankruptcy to implement an IP sale, a liquidating plan and avoid investigation and litigation. They'll probably throw in extensive releases for Spark Capital for good measure because, well, why the hell not? And next thing you know, the "revolutionary" and "disruptive" founders will end up fundraising for their next hair-brained scheme and convince yield-starved investors to back them again a la Fab.com's Jason Goldberg. No bubble to see here. Just the dumpster fire that is $13.8mm of Spark Capital's equity capital.
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware
Capital Structure: ~$4mm TL (Spark Capital, VC, successor to SVB Financial Group)
Company Professionals:
Legal: Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Laura Metzger, Jennifer Asher, Douglas Mintz) & (local) Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP (Robert Dehney, Andrew Remming, Marcy McLaughlin)
12/14/16 Recap: Marc Andreeson of A16Z once famously said that software would eat the world. Case and point: Violin Memory Inc. The publicly-traded Santa Clara California-based flash-drive hardware and (only recently) software services provider files for bankruptcy after software providers cannibalized its product, two failed attempts to sell the company, and a failed attempt to secure DIP financing. The objective of the filing is a "value-maximizing sale" of the assets: hey, its three strikes and you're out, not two.
Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware
Capital Structure: $10mm '17 5% RCF (Silicon Valley Bank - terminated as of petition date), $120mm '19 4.25% convertible notes (Wilmington Trust)
Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on company name for docket)
Other Parties in Interest:
Ad Hoc Group of Convertible Noteholders (Jefferies Group LLC, Nokota Management LP, Pine River Capital Management LP, Silverback Asset Management LLC, Soros Fund Management LLC)
Legal: Cooley LLP (Lauren Reichardt, Robert Winning, Jay Indyke, Eric Haber, Michael Klein) & (local) Elliott Greenleaf PC (Eric Sutty, Rafael Zahralddin-Aravena)
Financial Advisor: The DAK Group (Sheon Karol, Ari Fuchs, Claudia Levine)
