Ropes & Gray Advises Hearthside on $3 Billion Restructuring

Ropes & Gray represents Hearthside Food Solutions in connection with its restructuring process, including the global Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) entered-into with its key stakeholders that will right size Hearthside’s balance sheet and infuse the business with significant new capital. These transactions, which were announced in a Nov. 22 press release, will restructure approximately $3 billion of funded debt and are being implemented through prearranged chapter 11 cases filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Through its restructuring, Hearthside will significantly reinforce its financial foundation through the elimination of approximately $1.9 billion of debt and the infusion of approximately $200 million of new equity capital at exit, as well as commitments for debtor-in-possession financing including $150 million of new money. Ropes & Gray serves as counsel to Hearthside in this chapter 11 process.

Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Hearthside Food Solutions is a leading contract manufacturer and producer of baked foods, snacks, and nutrition bars, and a full-service provider of food packaging services for many of the world’s premier brands.

The Ropes & Gray team includes business restructuring partners Natasha Hwangpo, Ryan Preston Dahl and Matt Roose, as well as counsel Stephen Iacovo, tax partner Eric Behl-Remijan, private equity partners Bob Rivollier and Dee Kuchukulla, executive compensation & employee benefits partner Allie Alperovich, finance partners Jennifer Harris, Chris Poggi, Sam Badawi, Leonard Klingbaum and Andrea Hwang, and litigation & enforcement partners Dan McCaughey and Peter Welsh.