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Case Study

Managing Liquidity and Bankruptcy and Executing a Successful Sale

Team Size
1 Senior Managing Director, 1 Managing Director, 2 Associates
Project Duration
8 months

The Situation

After a weak 2016 Q4, a $1.5B outdoor products retailer with more than 160 retail locations across 27 states was struggling as a going concern, unable to fund interest payments and pay lenders, and management was forecasting running out of liquidity in less than 5 months. Two lenders were already advancing a combined 102% of NOLV for inventory, and equity holders were unwilling to contribute capital. The Company had 85% of their sales concentration in brick-and-mortar retail, with the remaining 15% coming from e-commerce and catalog. Mackinac Partners (acquired by Accordion in 2021) was engaged by the Company’s secured lenders to advise regarding alternatives.

Services

Strategic Business Assessment

Liquidity Management

Bankruptcy Services

Sell-Side Advisory

The Execution

  • Sensitized cash flow forecasts and worked with the Company to develop a disbursement strategy to preserve liquidity.
  • Helped evaluated the sales process and timeline to ensure the Company and lenders were aligned.
  • Reviewed strategic options with the Company with a goal of creating additional runway, including vendor management, store closings, and bankruptcy filing timing.
  • Advised on key components of stalking horse and agency agreement submissions specific to large scale retail liquidations.
  • Supported the auction process with bid valuations, term negotiations, and strategic oversight.
  • Ensured that the bankruptcy filing and stalking horse process occurred in a timely fashion.

The Results

As a result of our work, the Company had successful liquidity management, a successful bankruptcy filing, and an orderly liquidation/sale returning full value to secured creditors and over $20MM in additional value above the stalking horse bid.