Southern grocery chain Bi-Lo filed a voluntary petition Monday for bankruptcy protection to address an upcoming debt maturity.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief Monday in the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of South Carolina.
“In a normal course of doing business and in a good economic environment we would have had that refinanced under reasonable terms,” said Michael Byars, Bi-Lo president and chief executive officer. “But looking at the situation we had here and where we wanted this organization to move to, we felt this was the best approach and the most viable approach for us to strengthen the company moving forward.”
The company had no plans to close any of its stores or lay off any of its 15,500 workers, Byars said.
He declined to disclose the amount of the privately-held company’s debt, but said that Bi-Lo is ahead on budget and sales for the first quarter.
“The tight credit markets today could not have been foreseen so essentially this comes back to a debt maturity — nothing else,” he said.
Details of the credit agreement terms were not immediately available but the company said it has met all the loan’s terms so far.
Bi-Lo plans to fund operations mostly through its cash on hand and cash generated from operations, according to a news release.
Bi-Lo, based in Mauldin, S.C., operates 215 supermarkets in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
Source: Asheville Citizen Times
