Tupperware lenders oppose company's proposed bankruptcy sale
By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) -Tupperware's lenders opposed the food storage and kitchen products company's proposed bankruptcy auction during the company's first court appearance, cutting off its access to cash and threatening to derail the company's bankruptcy plans.
The Orlando, Florida-based company filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday, with $818 million in debt and a plan to find a buyer within 30 days.
But three key lenders, Alden Global Capital, Stonehill Institutional Partners and a trading desk of Bank of America, which bought Tupperware debt with a face value of $450 million in July, quickly opposed the company's plans.
They took the rare steps of cutting off its access to $7.4 million in its bank accounts and filing a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy or convert it to a Chapter 7 liquidation that would allow lenders to quickly seize the company without the time and expense of a lengthy Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The lenders' attorney, Allan Brilliant of Dechert, said at a court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, that the company's bankruptcy strategy would simply drag out the company's failed search for a buyer.
Tupperware has spent $67 million since January 2023 on restructuring and marketing professionals, but the highest bid was just 20% of the company's existing $818 million in debt, according to the lenders' court filings.
"They hope to convince Your Honor that they could sell to some third party rather than the lenders, but the reality is that that's just not going to happen here,” Brilliant told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon, who is overseeing the case.
Tupperware resisted the lenders' attempt to quickly foreclose on its assets after that purchase, instead believing that it should be allowed to conduct an open and transparent sale of its assets in a court-supervised bankruptcy proceeding, according to the company's attorney, Spencer Winters of Kirkland & Ellis.
Winters pointed out that the objecting lenders had only recently acquired a controlling stake in the company's debt for between $15 million and $30 million. That investment is far less than the bids that the lenders now portray as unrealistically low.
Brilliant said that the amount his clients paid for the debt was irrelevant.
Tupperware intends to ask Shannon to restore its access to cash accounts at a court hearing next week.
Tupperware attributed its bankruptcy to a years-long slump in sales, saying it relied too heavily on independent sales representatives instead of selling online or in retail stores.
The case is In Re Tupperware Brands Corp, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, No. 24-12156.
For Tupperware: Spencer Winters of Kirkland & Ellis
For the ad hoc group of lenders: Allan Brilliant of Dechert
Read more:
Tupperware - from a US household brand to an indebted kitchenware maker
Tupperware files for bankruptcy as its colorful containers lose relevance
Berita Terbaru
Pengungkapan: Entitas XM Group menyediakan layanan khusus eksekusi dan akses ke Fasilitas Trading Online kami, yang memungkinkan Anda untuk melihat dan/atau menggunakan konten yang tersedia pada atau melalui situs, yang tidak untuk mengubah atau memperluas, serta tidak mengubah atau memperluas hal tersebut. Akses dan penggunaan ini selalu sesuai dengan: (i) Syarat dan Ketentuan; (ii) Peringatan Risiko; dan (iii) Pengungkapan Penuh. Oleh karena itu, konten disediakan hanya sebagai informasi umum. Anda juga harus ketahui bahwa konten Fasilitas Trading Online kami bukan sebagai ajakan atau tawaran untuk untuk melakukan transaksi apa pun di pasar finansial. Trading di pasar finansial mana pun melibatkan tingkat risiko yang signifikan pada modal Anda.
Semua materi yang diterbitkan di Fasilitas Trading Online kami hanya untuk tujuan edukasi/informasi dan tidak boleh mengandung nasihat dan rekomendasi finansial, pajak investasi atau trading, catatan harga trading kami, penawaran, permintaan, transaksi dalam instrumen finansial apa pun atau promo finansial untuk Anda yang tidak diminta.
Konten pihak ketiga apa pun, serta konten yang disiapkan oleh XM, seperti opini, berita, riset, analisis, harga, informasi lain atau link ke situs pihak ketiga yang tersedia "sebagaimana adanya", sebagai komentar pasar umum dan bukan menjadi nasihat investasi. Sejauh konten apa pun ditafsirkan sebagai penelitian investasi, Anda harus memperhatikan dan menerima bahwa konten tersebut tidak dimaksudkan dan belum disiapkan sesuai dengan persyaratan hukum yang dirancang untuk mempromosikan kemandirian riset investasi dan dengan demikian akan dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah hukum dan peraturan yang relevan. Mohon dipastikan bahwa Anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi pada Riset Investasi Non-Independen dan Peringatan Risiko kami mengenai informasi di atas, yang dapat diakses disini.
