Founded in 1972, The Lyons Companies (“Lyons” or the “Company”) produces high-quality industrial, appliance, food service, and store fixture products for well-known companies throughout North America. Operating out of a strategically located 200,000-square-foot facility in Louisville, Kentucky, the Company enjoyed decades of success and growth until an unidentified issue with its ERP system resulted in significant inventory reporting and costing issues. Despite efforts to rectify the problem, the damage had been done, and Lyons could no longer service its debt. The Company filed for chapter 11 to provide a runway to sell the business.
SC&H Capital was retained as the exclusive investment banker to the debtor in possession and given eight weeks to run a marketing process and solicit bids in advance of the court-approved auction. SC&H Capital quickly canvassed the market and executed confidentiality agreements with 51 companies and conducted site visits with nine interested prospects.
Despite the expedited timeline, SC&H Capital was able to identify a stalking horse bidder and negotiate several improvements to the bid in advance of it being selected. SC&H Capital then solicited potential overbidders to participate in the auction, ultimately qualifying two additional groups as bidders. Over the course of an entire day and 30 rounds of bidding, SC&H Capital dramatically increased the value of the bids at the auction. The culmination of these efforts was a winning bid that provided a 58% increase in cash from the stalking horse bid and several other improvements that created substantial value for the estate, including the assumption of leases and payments to unsecured creditors. This was critical in obtaining court approval of the sale, which was given shortly after the auction was concluded. Within two months of being retained, SC&H Capital delivered a bidder that kept the business operating, saved over 200 jobs, and maximized recovery for the estate.
