SC&H Capital, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory for middle-market companies, announced that its client Tattooed Chef, a plant-based food company, completed a sale of substantially all of its assets.
Tattooed Chef operated seven different facilities in California, New Mexico, Ohio, and Italy and offered a portfolio of plant-based branded and private-label frozen food products to retailers in all 50 states.
While Tattooed Chef achieved revenue of more than $230 million and a market cap of over $2 billion in 2021 after it went public, it had been operating with constrained liquidity which impacted the company’s profitability and ability to pay suppliers and other parties necessary to continue operations. Due to the changes in the capital markets and general macroeconomic conditions, the company was unable to raise additional financing and as a result, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 30, 2023, to provide a runway to sell the business.
SC&H Capital was retained as the exclusive investment banker to run an expedited sale process to market the assets and solicit bids from interested parties. Within eight weeks, SC&H Capital had 133 groups under non-disclosure agreements and conducted 40 site visits at various facilities. Heading into the auction on Sept. 19, 2023, there were 16 groups qualified to bid. After an extensive, multi-parcel auction conducted by SC&H Capital, sales with 11 different buyers were approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. Closings occurred over the next few months and provided maximum recovery to creditors, continued employment, and operating businesses for vendors to support.
“This was an incredibly challenging situation given the breadth of products Tattooed Chef was involved with and the need to move extremely quickly to a sale in order to maximize value. Retaining SC&H Capital allowed me to focus on managing the business while they thoroughly marketed the assets. The number of parties they brought and the execution of the auction was the result of a very demanding 12 weeks for everyone involved,” Ed Bidanset, chief restructuring officer for Tattooed Chef, said.
“We knew this would be a tough deal and our team was ready for the challenge. This is the culmination of a lot of effort and teamwork, and we are proud to be a part of the solution. A big thanks to Ed Bidanset, David Neale and Todd Arnold. From the initial planning stages to the final negotiations, their expertise, dedication and support were truly instrumental in achieving this outcome,” Matt LoCascio, principal at SC&H Capital, said.
