Facility Closures & Downsizings: ‘DeadPin’ Alley: AMF Bowling Files Ch.11

AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc. is planning to restructure and shed costs after reaching an agreement with a majority of its secured first lien lenders and the landlord of a majority of its bowling centers. The bowling facility operator will restructure through a first lien lender-led debt-for-equity conversion, subject to higher and better offers through a marketing process.

AMF’s restructuring is expected to eliminate a significant amount of its outstanding debt, providing the firm with the operational flexibility and resources to invest in improvements to its bowling centers and other growth initiatives.

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“With the support of our key financial stakeholders, we will recapitalize our balance sheet and reduce our burdensome debt load and related costs. This is a necessary next step in our strategic plan to strengthen AMF financially and operationally for the future,” said Steve Satterwhite, AMF’s CFO and COO.

The AMF executive said the recent adverse economic conditions hit its core customer base hard. To implement its pre-arranged restructuring, AMF and certain of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. AMF anticipates completing the restructuring process and exiting Chapter 11 within approximately five months.

As part of its plans, AMF is initially seeking to cancel leases for 12 of its locations, all of which are already closed.

• A commercial ground lease for a 36,400-SF facility in Sacramento, CA.
• 24,000-SF bowling facility at 15400 S. Robert Trail, Rosemount, MN
• 31,195-SF bowling facility at 3201 East End Ave., S. Chicago Heights, IL
• 35,000-SF bowling facility at 1250 W. 16th St., Yuma, AZ
• 35,600-SF bowling facility at 225 Niantic Ave., Cranston, RI
• 31,012-SF bowling facility at 3245 Kirchoff Road, Rolling Meadows, IL
• 25,800-SF bowling facility at 10870 N. 32nd St., Phoenix, AZ
• 32,000-SF bowling facility at 3636 Ringgold Road, Chattanooga, TN
• 51,000-SF bowling facility at 1246 N. 21st St., Newark, OH
• 29,000-SF bowling facility at 2055 E. Victory Drive, Savannah, GA
• 45,000-SF bowling facility at 1948 Austin Highway, San Antonio, TX
• 28,850-SF bowling facility at 154 Main St., Woodland, CA

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Energizer Turning Off the Power at Several Facilities

Energizer Holdings Inc. is undertaking an enterprise-wide restructuring plan expected to reduce the global workforce by more than 10%, or approximately 1,500 colleagues.

St. Louis-based Energizer hopes to achieve $200 million in gross pre-tax cost savings from this restructuring. It expects that nearly three quarters of the savings will improve profitability, and the remaining portion of the savings will be invested in the business.

In order to achieve these savings, Energizer is undertaking the following actions in its Household Products Division, including:

• Closing its Maryville, MO, battery manufacturing facility
• Closing its St. Albans, VT, battery manufacturing facility
• Streamlining its Asheboro, NC, battery manufacturing and packaging facilities
• Consolidating general and administrative functional support across the organization;
• Refocusing the Household Products Division product portfolio on its core battery business and reducing the size of its marketing organization;
• Reducing overhead spending including changes to benefit programs and other targeted spending reductions; and
• Creating a center-led purchasing function to drive procurement savings.

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150 Retail Store Leases of Bakers and Wild Pair Shoes Fitted for Auction

GA Keen Realty Advisors LLC of New York, a division of Great American Group Inc. , has begun marketing leases for 150 Bakers and Wild Pair shoe store locations across the country.

The stores, ranging from 1,254 to more than 4,000 square feet in size, are in 31 states. All transactions are subject to bankruptcy court approval.

A joint venture between Tiger Capital Group and SB Capital Group began liquidating over $30 million of inventory from 150 Bakers Footwear Group stores nationwide this week. The going-out-business sales at 70% of the mall-based retailer’s Bakers and Wild Pair stores are expected to continue through the end of the year. The companies will also be selling the fixtures and equipment from many of the stores.

“The company has received financing commitments to continue operating the remaining 63 stores in hopes of reorganizing around a smaller business,” noted Jim Thieken, senior vice president at SB Capital Group. “If such a refinancing does not occur, Tiger Group and SB Capital would then liquidate the inventory in those locations.”

According to GA Keen Realty Advisors co-president Harold Bordwin, “For retailers looking to expand, our bankruptcy sales process is the fastest and easiest way to open new stores and new markets. While Dec. 4 is the deadline for submitting bids for the Dec. 11 auction, we expect to have the ability to name a stalking horse prior to the auction. Thus, we are encouraging retailers to talk with us as soon as possible.”

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Facility Closures & Downsizings

.	Company	Address	City	State	Closure or Layoff	Layoff Number	Impact Date
.	Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.	8800 Baymeadows Way West	Jacksonville	FL	Closure	420	4/5/2014
.	Fashion Tech Window Coverings	2010 SE 8th Ave.	Portland	OR	Closure	98	12/31/2012
.	Exide Technologies	364 Exide Drive	Bristol	TN	Layoff	167	12/31/2012
.	INVISTA	4501 N. Access Road	Chattanooga	TN	Layoff	72	4/1/2013
.	Piccadilly Restaurant	366 Northgate Mall	Chattanooga	TN	Closure	31	Immediately
.	RockTenn Services	550 E. South St.	Collierville	TN	Closure	39	11/30/2012
.	Cummins Filtration	1200 Fleetguard Road	Cookeville	TN	Layoff	31	Immediately
.	APS Healthcare	113 Seaboard Lane, Suite 100	Franklin	TN	Closure	37	12/31/2012
.	Brunswick Boat Group	2601 Sea Ray Blvd.	Knoxville	TN	Closure	224	12/27/2012
.	Super D Drugstore	157 W. Church	Lexington	TN	Closure	4	Immediately
.	Vyn-All Pool Products	360 Locust Ave.	McKenzie	TN	Closure	24	12/31/2012
.	American Airlines	2491 Winchester Road	Memphis	TN	Closure	35	11/30/2012
.	Cambridgeport Air Systems	3529 Lamar Ave.	Memphis	TN	Closure	27	Immediately
.	J M Smucker	4740 Burbank Road	Memphis	TN	Layoff	89	11/16/2012
.	Jacobson Warehouse Co.	4148 Delp St.	Memphis	TN	Closure	30	2/28/2013
.	Knowledge Universe Education	3675 Riverside Road	Memphis	TN	Closure	9	Immediately
.	St. Clair Foods Inc.	3100 Bellbrook Drive	Memphis	TN	Layoff	16	Immediately
.	Timken	727 Kathleen Drive	Pulaski	TN	Layoff	36	Immediately
.	Walgreens	1403 S. 1st St.	Union City	TN	Closure	11	11/10/2012
.	Freshpoint	10300 Springdale Road	Austin	TX	Closure	52	12/16/2012
.	Navistar Truck Group (SST Truck Co.)	4030 Forest Lane	Garland	TX	Closure	600	12/31/2012
.	GenOn Energy	1000 Main St.	Houston	TX	Closure	33	1/4/2012
.	Plains Cotton Coop. Assoc./American Cotton Growers	Highway 54 East	Littlefield	TX	Layoff	110	1/5/2013
.	ATI Career Training Center	6351 Boulevard 26, Suite 100	Richland Hills	TX	Closure	50	12/31/2012
.	ATI Career Training Center	6331 Boulevard 26, Suite 275	Richland Hills	TX	Layoff	122	12/31/2012
.	Sears Holdings-Product Rebuild Center-Unit 1457& 6957	1201 Lake Woodlands Pkwy	Woodlands	TX	Closure	117	1/23/2013
.	Clopay Building Products	2601 W Valley Highway North	Auburn	WA	Closure	55	1/25/2013
.	Semiahmoo Resort Co.	9565 Semiahmoo Parkway	Blaine	WA	Closure	224	12/31/2012
.	BAE Systems	1844 NE Poulsbo Ave.	Keyport	WA	Closure	57	12/27/2012
.	Oshkosh Defense	various	Oshkosh	WI	Layoff	450	1/13/2012
.	Sentry Foods	5740 Washington Ave.	Racine	WI	Closure	60	1/11/2013

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