:Vice Media Group, popular for websites such as Vice and Motherboard, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday to engineer its sale to a group of lenders, capping years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures.
Vice said the lender consortium that includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital will provide about $225 million in credit bid for almost all of its assets and also assume significant liabilities at closing. "Creditors are taking it over at a steep discount and we will find out whether they can become viable with a much slimmer capital structure coming out of bankruptcy," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at investment firm Great Hill Capital.
Vice has received commitments and consent from the lenders to use more than $20 million in cash, which it said will be"more than sufficient" to fund its business through the sale process.