Instant Brands emerges from chapter 11 as Corelle Brands

Davis Polk served as lead counsel to Corelle Brands Acquisition Holdings Inc. (f/k/a Instant Brands Acquisition Holdings Inc.) and certain of its affiliates (collectively, “Corelle Brands” or the “company”) in connection with their chapter 11 restructuring proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. After multiple weeks of litigation with certain of the company’s former appliance suppliers, on February 23, 2024, the Bankruptcy Court ruled in the company’s favor and entered an order approving the company’s combined disclosure statement and joint plan of reorganization. Corelle Brands emerged from bankruptcy on February 27, 2024.

The plan is the outcome of extensive negotiations among the debtors and certain of their key stakeholders and provides a framework for, among other things, a significant reduction of the company’s prepetition funded indebtedness and an operational restructuring of the company’s housewares business to further advance the company’s efforts in positioning itself for long-term success. In doing so, the plan contemplates, among other things, (i) the equitization of over $390 million of the prepetition term loan claims into 100% of the new equity interests in the company, (ii) the refinancing of the company’s debtor-in-possession term loan credit facility with an approximately $160 million exit term loan credit facility held by existing DIP term loan lenders upon emergence, (iii) the refinancing of the company’s debtor-in-possession ABL credit facility with a $90 million exit ABL credit facility for working capital purposes, the proceeds of which were used upon emergence to fund approximately $60 million of plan distributions, including cash collateralize certain outstanding letters of credit and provide the company with working capital for operations, and (iv) the distribution of litigation trust interests – 85% to holders of prepetition term loan claims and 15% to holders of allowed general unsecured claims – in a litigation trust created to investigate and pursue possible causes of action.

Corelle Brands designs, manufactures and markets a global portfolio of innovative and iconic consumer lifestyle brands: Pyrex, Corelle, Corningware, Snapware, Chicago Cutlery and Visions. The company is headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, and employs more than 1,800 people across three continents.

The Davis Polk restructuring team included partner Brian M. Resnick, counsel Steven Z. Szanzer and Joanna McDonald and associates Jinhe Hu, Moshe Melcer and Kate Fine. The sponsor finance team included partner J.W. Perry, counsel Jonathan B. Brown and associates Natalie Lin, Eric Cummings and Owen Daly. The litigation team included partner Elliot Moskowitz and associates Garrett Cardillo, Zhuoran Zhong and Julian Hernandez. Partner Ethan R. Goldman, counsel Tracy L. Matlock and associates Bradford Sherman and Betsy Johnson provided tax advice. All members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.