Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX), the company operating behind the Bang Energy drinks brand has filed for bankruptcy. In a press release on Monday, VPX confirmed it was pursuing Chapter 11 protection in the US state of Florida, a move it claimed would allow it to reorganise and regain market share from domestic rivals.<\/p>\n
Recently, the company lost a $293 Mln lawsuit for false advertising to rival Monster Beverage Corp.<\/p>\n
The company statement read, “This filing is a restorative action to help the company recover from recent challenges, including multiple lawsuits that impacted the Company’s short-term outlook.”<\/p>\n
“VPX intends to use the Chapter 11 process to recapitalise and emerge from bankruptcy well-positioned to continue its rapid growth in the beverage market,” it added. As part of the restructuring process, VPX has stated its intention to create a new “decentralised direct store distribution (DSD)” network for the Bang Energy brand, which it hopes will enable it to recover to its “pre-Pepsi meteoric annual success”. Owoc said in a statement, “We are excited about our future, and particularly the new distribution system that we have spent the better part of this year assembling. Utilising our new state-of-the-art DSD will allow Bang Energy to get back to our pre-Pepsi meteoric annual success of several hundred percent year over year growth.” <\/p>\n
Under the terms of a Chapter 11 filing in the US, the debtor is allowed to continue business<\/span> operations (subject to the court’s jurisdiction) whilst it reorganises its affairs and confirms a plan with its creditors. VPX said on Monday that the filing would have “no impact (on) product availability, customer orders or operations”.<\/p>\n
The brand was earlier distributed by the CSD giant until a spat between the two companies ended with VPX CEO Jack Owac saying that PepsiCo “engaged in a premeditated plan to destroy Bang from day one”. <\/p>\n