Case Studies
The company was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic to fulfill unusually high demand for home gym equipment by supplying dumbbells and kettlebells to major retailers. Its founding shareholders financed the company’s rapid growth by borrowing over $20 million from a private lender at high interest rates. When demand for gym equipment fell sharply in 2022 and major retailers canceled purchase orders overnight, the company’s management did not adjust purchases, resulting in approximately $15 million in excess inventory stored in the US, Mexico, and China.
Having lost confidence in the management team and with over 10 million pounds of exercise equipment deteriorating in its warehouses in the U.S. and Mexico, the company’s outside investors and lenders retained our experts to bolster management’s efforts to restructure the company. However, management’s continuing failure to communicate effectively with the investors and lenders resulted in a toxic, contentious relationship, and the company’s founders chose to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2022.
As Interim CEO/CFO and strategic advisor to a bankrupt gym equipment supplier, we guided the company through a successful reorganization under Ch. 11 Bankruptcy.
Key actions leading to the company returning to cash flow positive included:
Mike Bergthold, CFE
Senior Managing Director,
Strategic Advisory
+1 213 404 0113
[email protected]
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> Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) & Interim Management Services
Our experienced C-suite interim executives advise and support companies in financial distress, experiencing hypergrowth, or that are challenged by critical vacancies among senior leadership. Our professionals are trusted advisors who apply decades of hands-on operating experience to serve as full- and part-time interim C-level management and augment line positions, providing strategic advisory and tactical execution support to fulfill clients’ management needs.