How a Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization Saved Player Wire Wheels

When a $47 million company loses its founder and its bank in the same stretch, most people assume the story ends in liquidation. Player Wire Wheels is proof it doesn't have to. The wholesale and retail automobile wheels and tires distributor came through a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization with its plan confirmed on December 16, 2009 and every secured and unsecured creditor set to be paid in full.

How the company ended up in bankruptcy

Player Wire Wheels ran a healthy top line, with revenues reaching $47 million. In late 2008 the business began to experience operational issues, and then the founder and owner died. The company's bank effectively froze its line of credit. With operations under pressure and financing cut off, the company filed for bankruptcy protection.

What Inglewood did in the case

Inglewood stepped into a situation defined as much by broken relationships as by broken numbers. The turnaround work ran across the operating floor, the accounting close, and the courtroom:

• Helped remove the substantial animosity and mistrust among the parties;
• Took the time required to close the Debtor's monthly statements from over three months to less than 20 days;
• Prepared cash budgets and tracked actual cash against those budgets;
• Provided guidance on the day-to-day operations of the business and the sales function;
• Proposed the structure of the reorganized entity that allowed the company to emerge from bankruptcy;
• Prepared projections that showed the proposed plan was feasible;
• Testified in Bankruptcy Court regarding the feasibility of the plan;
• Actively participated in negotiations with the senior secured lender;
• And otherwise assisted in a bankruptcy where all secured and unsecured creditors will be paid in full.

Why the outcome mattered

A confirmed plan that pays every creditor in full is a rare result in a case that started with a frozen credit line and a leadership vacuum. Tightening the monthly close from more than three months to under 20 days gave the lender and the court something they could trust: real numbers, on time. Disciplined cash budgeting and forecasting then made the feasibility case that carried the plan through court. The company emerged intact, and the people it owed got made whole.