Instant Brands has initiated a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, the company announced, intended to give it the time and flexibility to continue ongoing discussions with financial stakeholders to strengthen the financial position of the business.
In connection with the Chapter 11 process, Instant Brands has received a commitment for $132.5 million in new debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lenders. With court approval, Instant Brands expects the new financing, combined with cash generated from the company’s ongoing operations, to support the business during the court-supervised process. The official Instant Brands Connect app will continue operating, the company noted.
Instant Brands operates brands including Instant Pot, Corelle, Pyrex, Snapware, CorningWare, Visions and Chicago Cutlery.
Instant Brands has appointed Adam Hollerbach, partner and managing director at consultancy AlixPartners, chief restructuring officer. Hollerbach brings more than 20 years of experience in the restructuring advisory field and a wide breadth of business leadership expertise, the company reported.
In announcing the Chapter 11 filing, Ben Gadbois, the company’s president and CEO, said, “Instant Brands delivers houseware and small kitchen appliance products designed to meet consumer needs around the world. Over the past three years, we executed across five key strategies to build a profitable business. Our company continues to drive positive operating cash flows. We brought innovation to our core business across all brands, entered several new product categories, expanded our global footprint, progressively improved how we leverage our global infrastructure and last but not least, we have created best-in-class global consumer engagement through our digital ecosystem.”
Despite weathering the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain difficulties that followed, GadBois noted,” We continue to face additional global macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges that have affected our business. In particular, tightening of credit terms and higher interest rates impacted our liquidity levels and made our capital structure unsustainable. In recent months, we have been working closely with all of our financial stakeholders to position the company for its next phase of success. As we move through this process, we remain focused on serving and connecting with our consumers around the world, and we are grateful for their trust in us and our products. We are committed to finding a positive outcome. We thank our Instant Brands employees in factories, distribution centers and offices all over the world for their ongoing hard work and excellence, and we also extend our gratitude to our retail partners, suppliers and vendors for their continued support.”
