Below is our initial take on recent bankruptcy-related developments:
Less than a year after selling a majority stake in its Warsaw-based pilot training center, Avenger Flight Group filed for bankruptcy along with 20 affiliates.
S&K Take: Avenger Flight Group, a Florida-based flight simulation and training company, filed on Thursday in Delaware. The Debtors are packing a $43.5 million DIP financing (boasting $14.5 million in new money) with the DIP lenders acting as, you guessed it, the stalking horse bidder in a truncated sale process (although 45 days-ish to the auction could be considered robust in the short sale case context). The stalking horse bid would be a credit bid of the entire DIP plus some prepetition debt, for a total of $125 million. Existing debt totaled about $273 million. The Debtors’ largest client was Spirit Airlines, which as we all know, has its own issues. Similarly, the Debtors had contracts with Mexico’s Interjet and Colombia’s Viva Air, both subject to insolvency proceedings in their respective jurisdictions. On a positive note, the Debtors struck a deal with SIM International, a supplier of their equipment, to support a go-forward business. Not sure there is much to see here other than continued stress in the aviation space.
The operator for stores in U.S. and Canada filed for bankruptcy this week, making this the third Chapter 11 filing for the company since 2003.
S&K Take: Eddie Bauer is no stranger to bankruptcy. The business spun out of Spiegel Inc. in Spiegel’s 2003 bankruptcy, and filed its own bankruptcy in 2009, where the business was acquired by Golden Gate Capital. GGC sold the business to SPARC in 2021. SPARC’s equity was acquired by Catalyst Brands in 2025. A long and winding road leads us to the latest filing, which contemplates a dual-track liquidation and going concern sale process. The Debtors have an RSA with holders of $1.7 billion in prepetition debt. The sale process is brief—bids are due by March 3—although the Debtors would argue that the duration is reasonable since much work was done prepetition. The RSA contemplates an April 20 confirmation. GUCs are getting a small tip if they support the plan, although lenders are taking a bath along with them.
