Investment Bank Steps in to help Founder and Company in Successful Restructuring and Sale

DALLAS (May 20, 2010) - Barrier Advisors, a nationally recognized middle-market restructuring, operations improvement and special situations investment banking firm, announces the restructuring and sale of a used car dealership consisting of multiple locations. Targeting the subprime market, the dealership was out of financing availability when Barrier was retained to advise the company's founder on restructuring his personal obligations and refinancing or selling his business.

"Financing for used cars had nearly dried up, volume was off and competition was intense," said Jeff Jones, managing director of Barrier Advisors. "Dealers that finance and carry the notes are critically dependent on financing that, in the case of our client, had been frozen by the senior lender during the peak automotive selling season." The company also lost its inventory floorplan line, creating a funding crisis. Finally, the overall decline in asset values and the co-mingling of the founders' personal and corporate assets, the obligations of which were personally guaranteed, made matters even more complicated."

According to Jones, during two months of intense negotiations with creditors, Barrier acted quickly to handle the cash flow issues while simultaneously working to restructure the personal obligations of the company's founder. In addition, Barrier advised the company on cash flow management and cost-cutting measures while taking decisive action to preserve the value of the business.

Barrier Advisors' combined skills in restructuring and investment banking resulted in a solution wherein (1) the company's founder received cash and notes for his equity, (2) a private equity fund assumed all the company debt stapled by the senior lender plus some of the founder's personal debt, and (3) the founder's personal obligations to other creditors were either settled in kind or extinguished. In addition, Barrier negotiated full releases for the founder from all guarantees and remaining financial claims.

"Any way you look at it, Barrier achieved an amazing outcome for our client," Jones said.

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