Hronis is now a post-sale liquidation case: substantially all assets have been sold to Conterra Agricultural Capital and other successful bidders, and the debtors are seeking confirmation of a liquidating plan that would transfer the remaining estate assets and causes of action to a liquidating trust (Combined Plan and Disclosure StatementDkt. 468). The proposed plan, rather than a standalone operating reorganization, is the current path to resolve the estates after the asset dispositions.
Hronis and nine affiliates filed Chapter 11 on March 6, 2026, against a backdrop of mounting tax, crop-loss and liquidity pressure (Voluntary PetitionDkt. 1). The debtors attributed their distress to a roughly $12 million IRS audit obligation dating to 2017, damage from Hurricane Hilary in 2023 and subsequent defaults under forbearance arrangements in late 2025 (CRO Financing DeclarationDkt. 41). They had exhausted prepetition credit availability by August 2025 and were subject to daily account sweeps by Conterra beginning in November, leaving them dependent on immediate postpetition liquidity to protect the 2026 crop and preserve going-concern value (DIP Support DeclarationDkt. 39).
Conterra supplied the bridge through an initially proposed $22.303 million DIP facility. The court’s Interim DIP OrderDkt. 79 authorized up to $10 million on an interim basis, use of cash collateral, priming liens and superpriority claims, with spending governed by a budget and a 10% variance covenant. The financing and sale process were intertwined: the debtors said Conterra was the only viable financing source and defended the structure as the means to preserve operations, contracts and customer relationships while pursuing a section 363 going-concern sale (Debtors’ DIP ReplyDkt. 170).
Under the proposed plan, Conterra’s secured claim is approximately $176 million, while the roughly $65 million general-unsecured pool—including Conterra’s deficiency claim—is projected to recover less than 5%. Priority non-tax and PACA claims are proposed to be paid in full, intercompany interests and equity would be canceled, and unsecured recoveries would be funded principally through a negotiated carveout comprising estate causes of action, an initial $500,000 Conterra contribution and up to another $3 million tied to insider recoveries. A three-member oversight committee would supervise the liquidating trust. The immediate milestones are the July 28 plan-objection deadline and the August 11 confirmation hearing, both set out in the Plan Disclosure StatementDkt. 468.
