Alpha Guardian may be a leader in secure storage, but after its 2017 merger left the company in excess of $120 million in debt, it took the trusted bankruptcy experts lead by Nicholas Rubin of Force 10 Partners and Gregory Garman of Garman Turner Gordon to make them financially secure.
Earlier this month, a U.S. Bankruptcy judge in Nevada confirmed Alpha Guardian’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, said Force 10 Co-Founder Nicholas Rubin, who served as the company’s Chief Restructuring Officer.
“It’s ironic that, during a pandemic when so many businesses are liquidating, a good company with good bones but with exorbitant and unjustifiable debt along with bad process can still be saved,” said Rubin, who led the company to a successful operational turnaround with significant positive operating cash flow and record results.
Force 10 also successfully negotiated a consensual plan of reorganization between the debtors, the secured creditors represented by Schwartz Law and the official committee of unsecured creditors represented by Catherine Castaldi of the Law firm Brown Rudnick in which over $100 million of senior secured debt and over $30 million of junior claims were exchanged for interests in a trust, while the balance of the senior secured debt converted into equity of the reorganized debtor.
Force 10 implemented aggressive efforts to stem operating losses, including reducing payroll, improving operational efficiencies, creating oversight of accounting processes, and collecting significantly past-due receivables. Such efforts resulted in substantial additional cash flow. As a result, the debtors drew only $1.1 million of a $4.0 million Debtor in Possession financing facility.
Alpha Guardian was established in July 2017 through the acquisition and amalgamation of Cannon Safe and Stack-On Products, resulting in a market leader in the safe and secure storage industry. Alpha Guardian’s brands have led the way in providing consumers with secure storage solutions. Its products are sold to major retailers across the United States under the Cannon Safe, Stack-On Products and GunVault brands. Alpha Guardian operates manufacturing and distribution facilities in the U.S. and Mexico.