Trainor Glass Co., with about 500 employees in 14 states, closed in February, and has now filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the Northern District of Illinois US Bankruptcy Court.
Trainor Glass Co., which ceased operations in February, has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the Northern District of Illinois US Bankruptcy Court. Court documents list Trainor’s estimated number of creditors at between 1,000 and 5,000, with estimated liabilities totalling between USD 50 million and USD 100 million.
A case filed under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code allows a debtor to reorganize or liquidate pursuant to a court-approved plan. The meeting of creditors will take place 24 April in Chicago, according to court documents.
Trainor Glass filed a motion in the Chapter 11 case on 13 March, seeking to use cash collateral and obtain post-petition financing to “pay for the costs of the preservation and orderly liquidation of debtor’s assets, and to pay for the costs of administration of the debtor’s chapter 11 case,” according to court documents.
First Midwest Bank, the bank involved in the motion, has “agreed to allow [Trainor] to use a portion of its cash collateral to pay for the pre-petition wages due [its] former non-insider employees … and related payroll obligations in an amount not to exceed USD 494,000.”
The news of Trainor Glass Co.’s closure in February was met with mixed reaction across the glass industry. Employees were notified by 21 February that the company was immediately closing all locations and laying off all its staff – about 500 people in 14 states.
According to industry representatives, there may have been warning signs that Trainor was in trouble, including unprofitable expansions to the West and Southwest, “They expanded too quickly,” they say.