Tupperware cancels asset auction, plans for sale
Company agrees to lender takeover
By: Amaris Encines
USA Today
..... Tupperware has reached a tentative agreement to sell its business just weeks after the kitchen product company file for bankruptcy.
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The private sale of the Tupperware name and its products is to a couple of key lenders, including Alden Global Capital, according to a company announcement on Tuesday. [10/22/2024]
..... Tupperware is set to pocket $23.5 million in cash and over $62 million in debt relief in exchange for "all intellectual property" needed to cerate and market, as well as operating assets in the U.S. and abroad, the company said.
..... The
proposed transaction is expected to close by the end of month, [10/2024] pending court approval and other customary closing conditions, according to Tupperware. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon said the deal was likely the best option given the company's difficult and challenging circumstances," Reuters reported.
..... The sale was disclosed Tuesday [10/22/2024] at a bankruptcy court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, the news agency reported.
..... The deal between the Florida-based company and its lenders strikes a middle ground, one where lenders can sue debt cancellation as part of the purchase price while putting up capital Tupperware can sue to pay off other debts, according to Reuters.
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The company has made "tremendous growth" in the past year [2023] and is "delighted" a group of investors "share our vision and will partner with us to grow," Tupperware President and CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said in a statement.
..... "Tupperware is considered the inventor of the party selling model and made no-leak food conservation products famous," Goldman said. "Over the last year, [2024] we created a new strategy and operating approach that is digital-first, technology-led and asset-light, and preserved a global footprint for the company."
..... The "new" Tupperware Company will shift its focus toward serving "core global markets" including the U.S., Canada, Mexico and others. And will continue to "support entrepreneurship and a more sustainable lifestyle."
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Customers can still purchase Tupperware products from company consultants, Online and at retail locations in the core global markets, the company said.
..... Tupperware Brands was founded in 1946. Its first products were debuted by chemist Earl S. Tupper in Massachusetts in the early 1940s after he "spark of inspiration" while creating molds at a plastics factory shortly after the Great Depression, according to the company's website.
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Shortly thereafter, Brownie Wise held the first at home Tupperware party, leading to her being named the company's vice president of marketing in the 1950s.
..... Tupperware products became a staple in homes across the country and abroad in the decades that followed.
..... The company, according to Reuters, has "relied too much" on independent sales representative in recent years and has suffered as a resit.
..... Contributing: Gabe Hauari and Jordan Mendza