Bumble Bee Foods LLC, the largest North American brand of packaged seafood, filed for bankruptcy amid criminal fines and civil lawsuits stemming from a federal price-fixing case with plans for its assets to be acquired by FCF Co. for about $925 million.
The canned-tuna purveyor sought creditor protection under Chapter 11 in Wilmington, Delaware, listing assets and liabilities of as much as $1 billion each, according to court papers. It has arranged an $80 million term loan from its current lenders and a $200 million revolving credit facility to keep operating while in bankruptcy, the documents showed.
Bumble Bee, based in San Diego, California, and owned by London-based private equity firm Lion Capital LLC, pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiring with Starkist Co. and Chicken of the Sea Inc. to fix and raise prices in the U.S.