BFG Supply and 16 affiliated companies file for Chapter 11 protection

BFG Supply and 16 affiliated companies file for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, listing debts between $100 million and $500 million against assets in the same range.

The petitions, filed August 18 under case numbers 26-11283 through 26-11299, are assigned to Judge Craig T. Goldblatt and cover the parent entity BFG Supply Co., LLC alongside subsidiaries including Green-Tek, Greenhouse Solutions, Greenhouse Contracting Services, International Greenhouse Contractors, L & L Nursery Supply, Gard’N-Wise Distributors, BFG Kalamazoo, and BFG Logistics.

The list also includes De Cloet Greenhouse Mfg., a Canadian manufacturer expected to pursue a parallel recognition proceeding before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The company says it intends to continue operating throughout the process, and interest from potential buyers has already surfaced. Thanks to the court protection, they remain open and taking orders.

With a history of more than 50 years, BFG Supply is one of the longest-standing brands in the North American horticultural industry. The Indianapolis-based distributor supplies professional horticulture, lawn and garden, and controlled environment agriculture customers. Since the beginning of the century, the company has expanded both organically and through acquisitions. Pamplona Capital Management has owned BFG Supply since a $300 million recapitalization completed late last year.

Interim management
The Debtors engaged Reflect Advisors LLC in July 2026 to provide interim management services and appointed the firm’s Managing Director, Adam Zalev, as Chief Restructuring Officer. Reflect is proposed to be retained as restructuring advisor in the chapter 11 cases.

Funded debt at the petition date totals at least $342.5 million, split between a $43.08 million revolving facility administered by ACF Finco I LP and $299.46 million in term loans administered by Ares Capital Corporation.

The company attributes the filing to more than two years of compounding pressure rather than a single event. “Acquisitions completed between 2021 and 2024, including Greenhouse Megastore, a portion of Central Garden & Pet Company’s distribution business, and V-G Supply Co., were never fully integrated, leaving duplicative systems and an elevated cost base. Sales-organization turnover during fiscal year 2026 drove customer attrition, and consolidated revenue fell from $581.5 million in fiscal 2025 to $536.5 million in fiscal 2026.” Tightening vendor credit compressed the asset-based borrowing base further, a cycle the company describes as self-reinforcing.

Now what?
BFG Supply moves through three restructuring workstreams that proceed at the same time rather than one after another. SSG Advisors runs a going-concern sale process for some or all of the company’s businesses and assets, targeted for completion within roughly 60 days. A bidding procedures motion is expected early in the case, and the Debtors are already in active negotiations with parties that could serve as a stalking horse bidder, whose initial offer sets the floor against which other buyers compete at auction.

SB360 Capital Partners and Tiger Capital Group operate jointly as Liquidation Consultant, handling the orderly monetization of inventory, accounts receivable, machinery, equipment, and fixtures not absorbed into a going-concern sale. The Consulting Agreement governing this work requires court approval, and the Debtors retain the option to terminate it if a sale of substantially all assets becomes viable instead.

A&G Realty Partners markets the Debtors’ three owned facilities, in Danville, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Simcoe, Ontario, along with the company’s interests in 16 leased warehouse, distribution, and showroom locations across the United States and Canada.

Funding the case in the meantime depends on court approval of a proposed debtor-in-possession facility of up to $55 million, provided by the Debtors’ existing prepetition revolving lenders. The facility combines new revolving commitments with a cashless roll-up of outstanding prepetition revolving loans, plus cash payment of accrued interest and fees owed to those lenders as of the petition date.

Proceeds from the three workstreams flow first to the Debtors’ secured lenders, which hold claims against substantially all company assets. The Debtors have stated that no funds are expected to reach unsecured creditors once administrative expenses are paid. According to documents released on Bondoro.com, the biggest unsecured claims are from The Scotts Company, Roxul USA, and Hawthorne Hydroponics.