Skinny Nutritional Corporation

Client Profile
Skinny Nutritional Corporation (“Skinny” or the “Company”) develops, markets, distributes and licenses enhanced beverages under the “Skinny Water” brand. While the product offerings are solely in enhanced water (flavored water with no calories, sugar, carbohydrates or sodium), the Company owns numerous Skinny trademarks in a variety of other healthy beverage and food categories, including teas, smoothies, cocktails, ready-to-drink mixers and snacks. Skinny’s products are sold in national and regional retail outlets such as Giant, Acme, Duane Reade and ShopRite, among many others.
Situation
Skinny was founded in 2006 and experienced rapid growth through 2010. While the Company was on a positive trajectory, the rapid growth required an additional investment in order to fund working capital. In 2011, Skinny secured a funding commitment that was ultimately reneged upon due to unforeseen issues with the financial investor. As a result of lacking sufficient liquidity to meet vendor terms, Skinny lost market share because of continued interruptions in manufacturing and distribution. Due to the aforementioned factors, and to protect the Company’s assets, Skinny filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2013.
Solution
SSG was retained as Skinny’s investment banker to explore a sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets. Skinny Nutritional LLC, a newly formed entity with interest in the beverage space, agreed to be the stalking horse bidder. SSG conducted a comprehensive marketing process which resulted in a wide range of potential competing buyers, including multiple strategic and financial parties. Skinny Nutritional LLC’s stalking horse offer was ultimately the highest and best price. SSG’s knowledge of the industry and market and experience in running efficient and timely Chapter 11 sales processes enabled key stakeholders to maximize the value of the assets while preserving the Company’s operations as a going-concern.