Force 10 Partners

An advisory firm specializing in corporate restructuring, challenged businesses, litigation, and other special situations.

One of the world's largest suppliers of post-consumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), which is then used to produce high-quality food-grade recycled rPET material sold to the world's largest beverage companies for packaging

Force 10 navigated CarbonLite through $380 million in debt and years of negative margins, securing $75 million in DIP financing and $230 million in asset sale proceeds. By redesigning operational and pricing models—achieving customer buy-in for 25% price increases—Force 10 stabilized the business and positioned it for sale, culminating in a successful transaction that maximized creditor recoveries and resolved a complex restructuring.

Force 10 was retained in the fourth quarter of 2020 to address underperformance and insolvency challenges related to CarbonLite’s business model and complex capital structure, which included over $380 million in debt. This debt comprised $240 million of secured obligations across three publicly traded municipal bonds, a term loan, an asset-based lending (ABL) facility, and capital lease obligations.

Via Chapter 11, Force 10 led CarbonLite’s restructuring efforts, securing four separate debtor-in-possession (DIP) loans totaling $75 million and facilitating the sale of four business units, generating approximately $230 million in proceeds.

Force 10 implemented rigorous capacity utilization strategies to counteract years of negative gross margins and conducted detailed operational and financial analyses. These efforts resulted in a complete redesign of the operational and pricing models, reversing years of financial losses. As a result, most customers accepted up to 25% price increases.

Throughout the Chapter 11 process, Force 10 oversaw operations, developed detailed cash flow models, negotiated and secured DIP financing, managed the investment banking process, and handled the preparation and execution of the due diligence process. These comprehensive efforts were instrumental in stabilizing CarbonLite and maximizing creditor recoveries.

Team members