As part of the sale terms, Celebration Bidco will assume Anagram\u2019s trade payables and all of the balloon company\u2019s employees will be retained. Party City accounted for 38% of Anagram\u2019s sales, the company said in court documents in November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nDive Insight:<\/h3>\n
Anagram had been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Party City. However, that business wasn\u2019t part of Party City\u2019s Chapter 11 case. While in bankruptcy, Party City had moved to cancel its services, intellectual property licensing and supply agreements with Anagram.<\/p>\n
Celebration Bidco\u2019s purchase agreement includes $168.4 million toward paying down obligations, the assumption of assumed liabilities, a $1.5 million wind-down, and cash payment sufficient to satisfy outstanding obligations under the terms of the debtor-in-possession asset-based lending agreement.\u00a0Anagram has renewed its contracts with Party City following the sale to Celebration Bidco, court documents filed last week show. Anagram will operate as an independent company going forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am grateful for the dedication and commitment of all of our employees as we navigated this process and for the continued support of our vendors and customers,\u201d Anagram President Jim Plutt said in a statement. \u201cAs we embark on this fresh start with a stronger balance sheet and new capital, we are focused on further investing in our team and our industry-leading innovation in the years to come and delivering even greater value to our stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anagram\u2019s financial and business difficulties escalated in 2020, Chief Restructuring Officer Adrian Frankum said in court documents. The company\u2019s challenges included unsustainable debt levels, the effects of the pandemic on celebrations and gatherings, global inflation and helium shortages \u2014 a critical product for a balloon business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the end of 2022, Frankum said 85% of Anagram\u2019s products were designed as helium-filled foil balloons. At that time, the company\u2019s adjusted EBITDA fell from about $52 million in 2021 to approximately $29 million in 2022.<\/p>\n
When it filed for bankruptcy, Anagram reported about $240 million in debt obligations. At that time, the company employed about 350 people who worked in a vertically integrated business model supporting manufacturing, production and distribution services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have long admired Anagram and its team as the company has continued to lead the foil balloon industry in innovation and quality for decades,” Gentry Klein, managing director at Littlejohn & Co., said in a statement. \u201cWe are excited to partner with Jim and the Anagram team for this next chapter as an independent company and support them as they capitalize on new growth opportunities and expand their market position globally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded in 1977 and based in Eden Prarie, Minnesota, Anagram International says it is the world’s largest foil balloon manufacturer. The company became a subsidiary of Party City through a series of acquisitions. Through a network of distribution partners that includes dollar stores and major retailers, the company says its balloons are sold in over 140 countries.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Retail](\"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RETAIL-ONLINE-TRAINING-728-X-90.png\")
<\/a><\/p>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to the article 4 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive Brief: Balloon manufacturer Anagram International,\u00a0which filed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}