Assets From Creations Garden Natural Products Up For Auction
LOS ANGELES (1/31/14) — Tiger Group’s Remarketing Services Division and Reich Brothers are now accepting offers for the assets of Creations Garden Natural Products, Inc., a natural products manufacturer based in Valencia, Calif. Tiger and Reich are conducting the sale in cooperation with Brian Testo Associates.
At its peak, Creations Garden posted annual sales of approximately $50 million, with its products sold at such retailers as Target, Sam’s Club, BJs Wholesale Club, Walgreens, Duane Reade, Hi Health, TJ Maxx, and AM/PM. The bankrupt company’s product lines include skin care, hair care, nutraceuticals, organic supplements, tattoo and piercing skin care, organic pet supplements, beverages, powdered drinks and energy shots. The business is being offered for sale as a going concern, or in lots during a live webcast auction scheduled for February 12 and 13. The auction will take place both days at 10:30 a.m. (PT) at the Hyatt Regency Valencia located at 24500 Town Center Dr., Valencia, and online at www.SoldTiger.com
Assets being offered include the global company’s brand names and other intellectual property; more than $8 million of finished goods, component and raw inventory; more than 200,000 square feet of state-of-the-art filling, mixing, packaging and support equipment; as well as office, laboratory, warehousing and transportation equipment.
“This sale represents a tremendous buying opportunity for a broad audience,” said Jeff Tanenbaum, President of Tiger Remarketing Services. “We are always hopeful a going concern buyer recognizes the opportunity and steps up to put the company and its employees back to work. However, if this does not occur, the components of this operation appeal to many audiences – from national competitors and related packaging operations who will appreciate the late-model, well maintained mixing, processing and packaging equipment, to any local and regional business interested in warehouse, distribution, facility and office equipment.”
The trade names being offered include the Creation’s Garden® brand of nutritional supplements, body cleansing supplements and other natural remedies; Rocco’s Old School Products,® — a natural and organic skin care line devoted exclusively to the tattoo, piercing and body art marketplace; and The Flying Basset,™ the first organic whole food pet supplement line.
Finished goods inventories include the company’s own brands as well as products under retail private labels. The multi-million-dollar component and raw material inventory includes bottles and caps, tubes, jars, and ingredients, as well as materials purchased from domestic vendors.
The filling equipment features 11 single and dual head HMC Bartelt machines (rebuilt by HMC between 2008 and 2011) equipped for liquid and/or powder and tablet filling; a 2006 Norden 420HA Tube Filler; and a complete Kalish Swiftpack line. The company’s complete liquid bottling line includes an Accutek bottle sorter, Biner Ellison filling machine, a Kaps Plus capper, conveyers, heat tunnels, and Video Jet Ink coders. Tablet equipment includes a 2007 O’Hara Fastcoat coater, four Stokes tablet presses, three Bosch high-speed encapsulators, and three Schaeffer encapsulators. Also available will be packaging equipment that includes an ALS automatic tube labeler; an Axon shrink sleeve label applicator; two Belco heat tunnels; and two complete pill bottle fill lines with lane counters, neck banders, labelers, sleevers and accumulation tables.
Among the mixing equipment will be two B Cast 3,000-gallon stainless steel mix tanks; thirty 275-cubic-foot ribbon blenders; and assorted stainless steel-jacketed mixing tanks and kettles. Lab equipment includes five late-model Shimadzu HPLCs, two Shimadzu gas chromatographs, a Rotovapor, and numerous platform and benchtop scales. Plant support equipment for bid includes a Torit dust collector, an Air Foxx dust collector and three Puretec Aquafine DI water systems.
Other assets include executive office and reception furniture and furnishings, file cabinets, telephone systems, copiers, and desktop and notebook computers, along with servers and presentation equipment.
Vehicles being sold include an International 26-foot box truck with lift gate, an Isuzu 16-foot box truck with lift gate, a 2010 Chevrolet Suburban, a 2008 GMC Express Cargo Van, as well as seven electric and lpg Toyota forklifts. Warehouse and support equipment includes more than 400 sections of pallet racking, floor scales, electric pallet jacks, manual pallet jacks, rolling ladders, merchandise carts, stock shelving, and commercial refrigerators.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 20, 2013 in the California Central Bankruptcy Court (case number 2:13-bk-37815).
The assets will be available for inspection on February 10 and 11 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PT) at the following locations in Valencia: tablet facility and corporate offices at 24849 Anza Dr.; Bartelt packaging and other filling equipment at 24749 Avenue Rockefeller and 24887 Avenue Rockefeller; laboratory, mixing and filling equipment at 27540 Avenue Mentry; finished goods and packaging equipment at 27615 Avenue Hopkins. Additional Bartelt packaging and other filling equipment can be viewed at 28926 Hancock Parkway in Castaic, Calif.
About Tiger Group
Tiger Group provides asset valuation, advisory and disposition services to a broad range of retail, wholesale, and industrial clients. With over 40 years of experience and significant financial backing, Tiger offers a uniquely nimble combination of expertise, innovation and financial resources to drive results. Tiger’s seasoned professionals help clients identify the underlying value of assets, monitor asset risk factors and, when needed, provide capital or convert assets to capital quickly and decisively. Tiger’s collaborative, straight-forward approach is the foundation for its many long-term ‘partner’ relationships and decades of success. Tiger operates main offices in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. To learn more about Tiger, please visit www.TigerGroup.com
About Reich Brothers
Reich Brothers Holdings, LLC is a specialized, hands-on provider of capital asset solutions that focuses on the acquisition and disposition of distressed and surplus capital assets, while providing an extensive array of solutions for businesses seeking to continue operations or sell assets as a going concern. The firm’s experienced team has successfully concluded over $400 million of corporate transactions by acquiring and disposing of turnkey asset-intensive manufacturing operations, inclusive of real estate. For corporate clients, Reich Brothers enables efficient and timely plant closures by offering a “one-stop” solution – effectively monetizing capital assets and real estate simultaneously. The company maintains its primary offices in Los Angeles and New York. For more information, please visit: www.reichbros.com
About Brian Testo Associates
Since 1996, BTA has helped clients nationwide maximize return on assets. BTA serves a diverse group that includes financial institutions, legal firms, corporations and other professional service organizations. Over the past 20 years, BTA’s principals have researched and prepared thousands of appraisals within more than 50 different industries. BTA has also conducted hundreds of auctions for companies, including Lockheed Martin, British Petroleum, Neutrogena, Progressive Wheels and True Value Hardware. BTA offers extensive experience and expertise, broad capabilities and important core advantages. For more information, please visit: www.btesto.com
