The Remington Outdoor Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over the weekend, one month after company officials announced that a deal had been reached with the gun maker’s creditors, according to multiple reports.
The 202-year-old company, one of America's largest firearm and ammunition manufacturers, filed paperwork in Delaware bankruptcy court late Sunday estimating Remington's liabilities to be between $100 million and $500 million, according to Bloomberg News and The Associated Press. Officials with Remington announced last month that the company had negotiated an agreement with its lenders to reduce its debt by about $700 million and add about $145 million in new capital.
Remington faced years of slumping sales in the wake of the 2012 shooting that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School. The shooter used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, a gun made by Remington, according to CNN Money.
The company was cleared of any wrongdoing in the attack, but investors repulsed by the massacre distanced themselves from the company’s owner, investment firm Cerberus Capital Management.
Remington’s bankruptcy filing came after hundreds of thousands of people took the streets nationwide to call for raising the minimum age for gun purchases and other measures meant to make it more difficult to get firearms during Saturday’s “March for Our Lives” demonstrations.
A bankruptcy filing under Chapter 11 allows a company to reorganize and stay in business as it works to repay debtors.
Officials with Remington said in a news release last month that the company will continue to operate as normal as the restructuring process gets underway.
“Importantly, the fundamentals of our core business remain strong,” Remington CEO Anthony Acitelli said in a statement. “We have an outstanding collection of brands and products, the unqualified support of a vibrant community across the industry and a deep and powerful culture. We will emerge from this process with a deleveraged balance sheet and ample liquidity, positioning Remington to compete more aggressively and to seize future growth opportunities.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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