AEG was retained by the then-largest national direct marketer of horticultural products, which had $450 million in revenue and 3,600 employees in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. AEG served as President and managed operations through the company's Chapter 11, led the auction of the main business units, divested non-core real estate assets, and wound-down the remaining business.

The company's lenders had ceased funding the business. AEG immediately recognized the fragile and deteriorating values of the operating assets. We clustered 21 operations into three groups for auction through separate Section 363 sales. We monetized real estate and order backlog separately, generating incremental returns above the value of the business units.

This process was completed within 120 days of the debtor's bankruptcy filing and the net recoveries were 50% in excess of the lenders' initial expectations.