Tupperware navigates legal maze to finalize sale
Tupperware Brands Corp. edged closer to a sale of its business at an Oct. 29 hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Judge Brendan Shannon agreed to approve the sale, but a handful of administrative hurdles remain before the iconic container company officially can change hands.
The company reached an agreement Oct. 22 to sell to its lenders. Those lenders, called the Ad Hoc Group in court filings, likely will operate Tupperware for a while and then sell the company in hopes of making a profit, said Scott Shuker, a partner at Orlando-based Shuker & Dorris PA, who is not involved with Tupperware.
At the Oct. 29 hearing, Tupperware attorney Spencer Winters of Kirkland & Ellis LLP said “the one issue that needs to be resolved overnight” was termination of certain intellectual property licenses in Europe. The company licenses its intellectual property in Europe through a Swiss entity, Tupperware Products AG. Terminating those licenses is a condition of the sale closing.
