Associated Wholesalers Seeks Bankruptcy, Plans Asset Sale

By Phil Milford Sep 9, 2014 9:19 AM ET

www.bloomberg.com/

Associated Wholesalers Inc., a food distributor, filed for bankruptcy with a plan to sell its assets, citing “fierce competition” in the grocery supply business.

In Chapter 11 papers filed today in Wilmington, Delaware, the company listed as much as $100 million in debt and said it planned to hold an auction with C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. as the lead bidder. Normal business won’t be affected, Robesonia, Pennsylvania-based AWI said in a statement.

AWI listed some of the biggest U.S. brands as creditors, including Tyson, Kellogg, General Mills and ConAgra, each owed more than $2 million; and Smucker, Nestle, Kraft and Dannon, each owed more than $1 million.

The company, whose White Rose unit also filed for bankruptcy, has been failing in part due to “compressed margins and fierce competition,” Chief Restructuring Officer Douglas Booth said in a court filing.

In the planned sale, C&S will be the “stalking horse” or initial bidder in a court-supervised auction, subject to higher or better offers, AWI said. Booth said AWI serves 800 supermarkets and other stores in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, with about 1,400 employees.

“The addition of AWI and White Rose would expand C&S’s footprint and enhance our significant capabilities in servicing independent grocers,” Rick Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer of Keene, New Hampshire-based C&S, said in the statement.