Vobev: $150M Credit Bid Sale and Liquidating Plan

Vobev, LLC filed chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah on December 9, 2024. Bloomberg Law reported the company filed with DIP financing from Ares and a plan to sell substantially all assets. The company, described in trade coverage as an integrated beverage producer, operates a Salt Lake City facility that combines can production, beverage filling, and warehousing under one roof. The case progressed through a court-supervised sale process and a liquidation plan that became effective on May 12, 2025, following a $150 million credit bid by the secured lenders.

The restructuring plan centered on selling substantially all assets and confirming a chapter 11 plan of liquidation. The first day declaration indicates a Salt Lake City plant that came online in 2022, after supply chain delays and cost overruns that began during the 2020 construction phase. Vobev entered the case with a capital structure dominated by a term loan and an ABL facility, then moved to a 363 sale that resulted in a $150 million credit bid from the purchaser. The confirmation of a liquidation plan in April 2025 completed the core restructuring path referenced in industry and law firm coverage, including a report that the plan was jointly negotiated with creditor constituencies and later confirmed after a contested hearing.

Debtor	Vobev, LLC
Court	U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah
Case number	24-26346
Petition Date	December 9, 2024
Effective Date	May 12, 2025
Headquarters	Salt Lake City, Utah
Business	Beverage can production and filling
Case posture	Post-effective liquidating chapter 11 plan
Claims agent	Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC

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Sale-Driven Filing and DIP Financing

Vobev filed to fund near-term operations while running a sale process to convert assets into cash and fund a liquidation plan. The first-day motions requested approval of a combined DIP financing and cash collateral structure totaling $115.377 million, including up to $37.25 million of new money — with a $14 million interim draw — and a $78.127 million roll-up of prepetition ABL and term loan obligations. The facility carried default rate protections and a maturity tied to the sale and plan milestones. Trade coverage reported that Vobev sought a buyer alongside the chapter 11 petition.

Key DIP terms in the motion included a new-money tranche priced at SOFR plus 9.00% paid in kind, roll-up debt accruing at prepetition non-default rates, and a 2.00% default rate. The maturity was structured around near-term milestones, ending at the earliest of 90 days after the petition date, 30 days if a final order was not entered, the sale consummation date, the plan effective date, or conversion or dismissal. The final DIP order also describes adequate protection for the prepetition lenders through replacement liens, superpriority claims, and payment of lender fees and interest.

The bidding procedures motion set an accelerated process. The debtor proposed a December 26, 2024 deadline to file a stalking horse agreement, a January 17, 2025 bid deadline, and a January 27, 2025 auction date if required, with the sale hearing scheduled for early February. The process was built around a credit-bid stalking horse proposal by the secured lenders, which set the baseline value and the minimum overbid increments. The court approved the procedures and entered a sale order on February 7, 2025 based on the stalking horse transaction, two months after the petition.

News coverage at filing reported that Vobev planned a stalking horse deal and had filed for bankruptcy protection while pursuing a sale. The court-approved procedures set the timeline for competing bids and the framework for the credit-bid sale.

Salt Lake City Plant and Construction Delays

Vobev operates an integrated facility in Salt Lake City that combines aluminum can production, beverage filling, and warehousing at a single site. The first day declaration describes a platform that produces and fills tens of millions of cans annually, and industry coverage described the company as an integrated beverage production platform. The single-site model concentrated value in one specialized, capital-intensive asset, which shaped the later credit-bid sale.

Construction of the plant began in 2020 and was delayed by pandemic-era supply chain disruptions that pushed back equipment procurement and ramp-up. The facility came online in 2022, and management reported in the first day declaration that it was fully operational by late 2023, by which point the company carried a large fixed-cost base while production and throughput were still ramping. Trade publications covering the canmaking industry reported the bankruptcy at filing.

Ares Credit Facilities and Liquidity Shortfall

The prepetition capital structure was dominated by secured debt. The first day declaration reports total indebtedness of roughly $476 million at filing, including $402.0 million in funded principal debt and about $74 million in unsecured debt. Bloomberg Law reported that Ares had ceased funding the business prior to the chapter 11 filing. The core secured obligations arose under a credit agreement dated April 20, 2023, with Ares Capital Corporation serving as administrative agent. The term loan obligations totaled at least $361.1 million, consisting of approximately $197.7 million in initial term loans and $163.5 million in delayed draw term loans. The asset-based revolving credit facility had outstanding obligations of at least $40.9 million, including interest and fees, and the revolving commitments had been terminated by the petition date.

The secured lenders held first-priority liens on substantially all assets under the prepetition credit agreement, leaving the term loan as the dominant secured obligation after the ABL commitments were terminated.

The company reported that the April 2023 refinancing funded continued construction and ramp-up but was exhausted by October 2023 while production levels remained below what was needed to cover costs. In response, the company launched a capital-raising effort in late 2023 and later engaged Houlihan Lokey in June 2024 to pursue a broader financing or sale process. The first day declaration indicates that more than 50 parties were contacted in the initial capital raise without a successful closing, and that lenders provided an additional $94 million in term loans over the year leading up to the chapter 11 filing to keep operations running.

By the petition date, the company required court-authorized financing to maintain operations and fund the sale process. The DIP facility was structured as a superpriority term loan with a roll-up of prepetition debt, converting a portion of the prepetition secured lenders' existing obligations into DIP obligations while funding new money during the case.

Credit-Bid Sale to Adonis and the Belvac Objection

The court approved a sale of substantially all assets to Adonis Acquisition Holdings LLC. The asset purchase agreement was dated January 6, 2025 and amended effective February 3, 2025. The purchase consideration was a $150 million credit bid that combined outstanding DIP obligations and additional prepetition obligations, plus the assumption of specified liabilities. The sale order provided for excluded cash to remain with the estate and for certain executory contracts and leases to be assumed and assigned with cure amounts determined through the notice process.

The sale order found that the bidding procedures were conducted at arm's length, that the stalking horse bid was the highest and best offer, and that the purchaser qualified as a good-faith buyer under section 363(m). The secured lender group, with Ares as administrative agent, used the credit bid to acquire the assets, and the purchase price was structured around the aggregate DIP and prepetition obligations. The court also approved the assumption and assignment of contracts the buyer elected to take, subject to cure.

The debtor served cure notices identifying contracts and leases proposed for assumption, and the sale order approved a process for counterparties to review the stated cure amounts and object. Contracts not assumed remained with the estate, while assumed agreements could be assigned to the purchaser once cure amounts were resolved.

Belvac sale objection. The sale record included an objection from Belvac Production Machinery, Inc., which supplied canning equipment with embedded proprietary software. Belvac argued that transferring equipment would infringe its copyright interests and that the purchaser had no right to post-sale software access absent assumption and assignment of Belvac contracts. Ares, as DIP agent, responded that the debtor owned the physical equipment, that the first-sale doctrine defeated Belvac's copyright theory, and that Belvac had separately committed under the critical-vendor arrangement to support the purchaser — noting Belvac had received nearly $4 million in critical-vendor payments tied to that commitment. The court approved the sale over the objection. The confirmation order later preserved a specific Belvac carve-out from the broader release and exculpation package, a post-sale litigation thread that continued in district court after the asset transfer.

Liquidating Plan and GUC Trust

Following the sale order, Vobev confirmed a chapter 11 plan of liquidation. The confirmation order created a general unsecured creditor trust (GUC Trust) established on the effective date to hold the initial trust funding and the estate's retained causes of action and proceeds. The trust is administered by a GUC Trustee selected by the official committee of unsecured creditors and reasonably acceptable to Ares, with an oversight committee that includes at least one Ares designee.

The plan divides claims into unclassified claims and classified claims and interests. Unclassified claims include the DIP facility claims, administrative expenses, professional fees, priority tax claims, and statutory fees. Classified claims include other secured claims, other priority claims, deficiency claims of the prepetition lenders, general unsecured claims, subordinated claims, and existing equity interests. The confirmation order estimated recoveries of 0% to 0.2% for Class 3 prepetition lender deficiency claims and 0% to 0.8% for Class 4 general unsecured claims, with both classes treated as GUC Trust beneficiaries. The GUC Trust was funded with $350,000 for wind-down activities and a $1 million trust loan from Ares for monetization efforts, with the trust loan required to be repaid in full before any distributions to Class 3 or Class 4 beneficiaries. Class 4 general unsecured creditors receive a pro rata share of 50% of aggregate distributions to trust beneficiaries.

The plan functioned as a post-sale liquidation framework rather than a reorganization of ongoing operations. The confirmation order approved releases and exculpation provisions with carve-outs for fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence, and imposed injunctions binding on claim and equity holders. Law firm coverage described the plan as a negotiated outcome among the debtor, Ares Capital Corporation, and the official committee of unsecured creditors, with a contested hearing preceding confirmation.

Claim/interest class	Treatment	Est. Recovery
Unclassified claims	DIP, administrative, professional fee, priority tax, statutory fees — paid in ordinary course	N/A
Class 1: Other secured claims	Treated per plan terms	N/A
Class 2: Other priority claims	Treated per plan terms	N/A
Class 3: Prepetition lender deficiency claims	GUC Trust beneficiary	0%–0.2%
Class 4: General unsecured claims	GUC Trust beneficiary (50% of trust distributions)	0%–0.8%
Class 5: Subordinated claims	Treated per plan terms	N/A
Class 6: Equity interests	Treated per plan terms	N/A

Committee Role and Professional Retentions

Ropes & Gray LLP served as lead counsel to the debtor. Ares Capital Corporation served as the administrative agent under the prepetition credit agreement and was central to the DIP financing and credit bid structure. The official committee of unsecured creditors retained counsel, a role that Lowenstein Sandler LLP publicly noted in a report describing its selection as committee counsel. The claims and noticing agent appointment went to Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC, which serves as the official point of contact for the claims register and case notices.

The committee selected the GUC Trustee and participated in oversight of trust administration, and its involvement shaped the plan terms governing releases, exculpation, and the scope of retained causes of action.

The debtor retained FTI Consulting as chief transformation officer, whose officer submitted the first-day declaration. The Houlihan Lokey engagement application describes the prepetition engagement of Houlihan Lokey to run a sale and financing process and notes that more than 50 parties were solicited in an earlier capital raise.

Trade publications in the canmaking sector reported the December 2024 filing and the company's sale path.

Key Timeline

Date	Milestone	Status
Dec. 9, 2024	Petition filed; DIP motion filed	Filed
Dec. 10, 2024	Bidding procedures motion filed	Filed
Dec. 11, 2024	Interim DIP order entered	Approved
Jan. 7, 2025	Stalking horse APA notice filed	Filed
Jan. 9, 2025	Bidding procedures order entered	Approved
Jan. 17, 2025	Bid deadline	Completed
Jan. 27, 2025	Auction date (if needed)	Not required — no competing qualified bids
Jan. 29, 2025	Final DIP order entered	Approved
Feb. 5, 2025	Sale hearing	Held
Feb. 7, 2025	Sale order entered	Approved
Apr. 24, 2025	Confirmation order entered	Approved
May 12, 2025	Effective date	Effective

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Vobev file chapter 11 and in which court?

Vobev filed chapter 11 on December 9, 2024 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah. The case number is 24-26346, and the petition date aligns with multiple reports that the company filed chapter 11 in early December 2024.

What does Vobev make and where is its main facility?

Vobev operates an integrated beverage can production and filling platform in Salt Lake City, Utah, producing and filling aluminum beverage cans for a range of beverage products. Industry coverage described Vobev as an integrated beverage production platform serving the beverage sector.

Why did Vobev seek chapter 11 protection?

The first day declaration states that construction of the Salt Lake City facility began in 2020 and faced supply chain delays that caused cost overruns and pushed back production ramp-up. By late 2023, the company had exhausted available capital and pursued additional financing and a sale process. The chapter 11 filing allowed the debtor to seek court-approved financing and implement a structured sale timeline.

How much DIP financing did Vobev request?

The debtor sought a DIP facility totaling $115.377 million, including up to $37.25 million of new money and a roll-up of prepetition secured debt. The DIP structure was designed to fund operations during the sale process while providing the secured lenders with a senior position.

Who bought the assets and what was the purchase price?

The court approved a sale to Adonis Acquisition Holdings LLC. The consideration included a $150 million credit bid composed of DIP and prepetition obligations, plus assumption of specified liabilities and other consideration under the asset purchase agreement.

What did the confirmed plan do for unsecured creditors?

The confirmed plan is a chapter 11 plan of liquidation that became effective on May 12, 2025. It established a GUC Trust with initial funding from Ares and retained causes of action. Class 3 prepetition lender deficiency claims and Class 4 general unsecured claims are GUC Trust beneficiaries, with estimated recoveries of 0%–0.2% and 0%–0.8%, respectively, to be distributed through the trust as assets are monetized.

Who is the claims agent for Vobev?

Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC serves as the claims and noticing agent under the claims and noticing agent appointment, maintaining the claims register that feeds GUC Trust distributions to Class 3 and Class 4 beneficiaries.

For related coverage of credit-bid liquidations, see Hardinge's $100 million credit-bid sale and liquidation, My Job Matcher's $35 million credit-bid sale and liquidating plan, and A.B.C. Carpet's GUC Trust recovery following an 888 Capital credit bid.