Armstrong Flooring received approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to access its consensual debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing totaling $24 million in net new money. This financing will provide the company with the necessary liquidity to continue operating in the ordinary course as it pursues a swift, value-maximizing sale process.
The DIP financing consists of an asset-based revolving credit facility and a term loan facility. The DIP facilities are being provided by the company’s pre-petition lenders, which include Bank of America, other institutional lenders and affiliates of Pathlight Capital. Bank of America and Pathlight, respectively, will act as administrative agent and collateral agent under the DIP facilities.
At yesterday’s hearing, the company also received approval of its critical vendor motion, which authorizes the company to use $9 million of the $14 million requested. The remaining $5 million will be up for approval by the bankruptcy court on June 3. The $14 million of critical vendor funds are available for the payment of certain pre-petition claims of vendors and service providers whose goods and services are truly critical to its operations and who generally do not have existing contracts to supply.
These approvals come after a prior hearing where the company received approval for other customary relief to support ordinary-course operations, including continuing employee wages and certain benefit programs, paying certain pre-petition claims of shippers and warehousemen, and honoring customer programs in the ordinary course of business.
The company continues to work closely with several interested bidders for some or all of its assets and is operating its business as usual throughout the sale process.
