US wine and spirits distributor Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) has filed for bankruptcy in Texas following a series of disposals of parts of its business.
In a statement, the embattled distributor said it has started a voluntary Chapter 11 process to “explore potential sale transactions in court” and carry out an “orderly wind down” of its remaining operations.
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“The court-supervised process is intended to give us the time and flexibility to continue working with parties that have expressed an interest in acquiring our other markets and conduct an orderly wind down of our remaining operations,” the statement read.
According to the Chapter 11 filing, RNDC said it has between $1bn and $10bn in liabilities against assets valued between $500m and $1bn.
The filing does not apply across the distributor’s entire corporate footprint.
National Distributing Company, which merged with RNDC in 2007, is excluded from the filing. Furthermore, among the company’s various regional partnerships, only the Alaska joint venture is included in the bankruptcy petition at this stage.
The company confirmed that its joint ventures in New York, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky remain outside of the Chapter 11 process.
In May, Breakthru Beverage Group (BBG) signed a letter of intent (LOI) to buy RNDC’s interests in its Kentucky and Indiana joint venture operations.
Quality Brands Distributing has also reached an agreement on a transaction to acquire RNDC’s operations in Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.
In April, RNDC signed a non-binding LOI to sell “certain wine and spirits distribution rights” in Oregon and Washington” to Columbia Distributing. That deal went through last month.
It also sold operations spanning ten states and Washington, DC to Reyes Beverage Group this year.
RNDC said yesterday the transitions preserved “over 5,000 jobs”, although its “financial position” ultimately forced it to pursue an in-court process.
“As we move through this process, we intend to continue to meet our obligations under certain transition service agreements related to the previously disclosed sales of certain of our operations,” it said.
The company added it has secured a financing commitment from certain lenders to support operations through the bankruptcy process.
