Fountain Powerboats, Inc. (“Fountain Powerboats”) together with 3 affiliated entities (”Debtors”) filed petitions on August 24, 2009 in Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code. The Debtors are the leading high-performance boat manufacturer in the United States. Debtors are engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of recreational offshore sport boats, sport fishing boats and sport cruisers. In 2008, the Debtors acquired the Baja line from Brunswick Corporation. The Debtors are seeking a court supervised auction and sale of substantially all of their assets. In its pleadings, the Debtor states that its secured lender is substantially under-collateralized. This bankruptcy looks like a rough one for the unsecured creditors. Identification of the Debtors and largest unsecured creditors is provided below.
The Debtors and their petition numbers are: Fountain Powerboat Industries, Inc. (09-7132-8); Fountain Powerboats, Inc. (09-7133-8); Fountain Dealers’ Factory Superstore, Inc. (09-7134-8); and Baja by Fountain, Inc. (09-7135-8). The US bankruptcy proceedings are being consolidated for administrative purposes only under case number (09-7132-8).
Each Debtor filed a separate list of 20 largest unsecured creditors. Practically all manufacturing operations were conducted in Fountain Powerboats, Inc. Its list of largest unsecured creditors is provided below.
| Name of creditor | Nature of claim (trade debt, bank loan, government contract, etc.) | Indicate if claim is contingent, unliquidated, disputed, or subject to setoff | Amount of claim [if secured, also state value of security] |
| GE COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION FINANCE CORP. | FLOORPLAN REPURCHASE | Contingent | $18,020,008.00 |
| TEXTRON FINANCIAL | FLOORPLAN REPURCHASE | Contingent | $5,671,013.00 |
| KEY BANK | FLOORPLAN REPURCHASE | Contingent | $1,830,095.00 |
| BANK OF AMERICA | FLOORPLAN REPURCHASE | Contingent | $1,760,076.00 |
| TEXTRON FINANCIAL | FLOORPLAN REPOSSESSION | $1,291,415.00 | |
| Gail A. Villani | breah of warranty | Disputed | $1,000,000.00 |
| REGIONS BANK | FLOORPLAN GUARANTY, FOUNTAIN DEALERS’ POWERBOATS SUPERSTORE, INC. | $613,200.65 | |
| MERCURY MARINE | INVENTORY PARTS | $325,728.70 | |
| Jon C Fisher | Deposit | $310,233.00 | |
| Regions Bank | Furniture, fixtures, equipment, real estate | $13,470,736.03 ($13,282,620.00 secured) | |
| CUMMINS ATLANTIC, INC. | INVENTORY PARTS | $168,791.61 | |
| COMPOSITES ONE | INVENTORY PARTS | $143,317.00 | |
| GE COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION FINANCE CORP. | FLOORPLAN REPOSSESSION | $128,407.04 | |
| GE COMMERICAL DISTRIBUTION-FINANCE CORPORATION | FLOOR PLAN | $117,502.16 | |
| Salman Hamad | Deposit | $100,000.00 | |
| Terrebonne Parish General Fund | Deposit | $100,000.00 | |
| ILMOR MARINE ENGINES | INVENTORY PARTS | $95,337.72 | |
| LAKE CUMBERLAND MARINE RANDY HARTMAN | DEALER | $88,829.97 | |
| LEGEND MARINE GROUP | DEALER | $81,335.25 | |
| AQUA TOY STORE | DEALER | $69,203.77 |
The list does not include: (1) persons who come within the definition of “insider”; or (2) secured creditors, unless the value of the collateral is such that the unsecured deficiency places the creditor among the holders of the largest unsecured claims.