Vintage Wine Estates, one of California’s biggest wine companies, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced its intention to delist from the stock market. After battling to pay off US$60.5 million worth of debt, Vintage Wine Estates (VWE) has filed for bankruptcy, stating that “negative financial headwinds” had “severely impacted its liquidity position”. The wine company, which owns brands including B.R. Cohn, Girard, Clos Pegase and Viansa, has already begun offloading assets, revealing on Wednesday 24 July that it has sold the property and equipment of its Constantino Winery to Gene Wines for US$10.5 million. Ultimately, the company said, it plans to sell “all or substantially all” of its assets and claims it has already received “multiple preliminary indications of interest” from potential buyers. “The decision to file for the voluntary petition for reorganisation under chapter 11 was made after a careful evaluation of the company’s financial situation and a determination that it is in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders,” VWE said in a stock exchange filing. VWE, which went public in 2020, will now delist from the stock market while it completes a “restructuring process”. The news follows an earlier spate of redundancies made during the last 12 months which cut VWE’s workforce by 22% in a bid to claw back costs. Founder Pat Roney stepped down from his role as CEO in February last year, but remains on the board of directors. VWE’s current president and CEO Seth Kaufman joined the company last
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Wine
