Fortress-Led Group Set to Acquire Vice Media Out of Bankruptcy

Media company Vice Group Holding Inc. is poised to be acquired out of bankruptcy by a group of its lenders led by Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital in a transaction worth roughly $225 million.

(Bloomberg) — Media company Vice Group Holding Inc. is poised to be acquired out of bankruptcy by a group of its lenders led by Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital in a transaction worth roughly $225 million.

Vice said in a Thursday court filing that it didn’t receive any other qualified bids for its assets ahead of a planned bankruptcy auction and therefore would move forward with the Fortress-led offer it entered Chapter 11 with.

The deal is in the form of a credit bid, which allows lenders to use debt they’re owed toward the purchase of a company’s assets out of bankruptcy. The deal will let Vice keep operating with substantially less debt after exiting court protection. A hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for Friday.

Vice filed for bankruptcy in May, a long fall for a company once valued at $5.7 billion. Fortress Credit Corp. ranked among the media company’s biggest secured creditors, with claims totaling about $475 million, the company’s petition showed.

The case is Vice Group Holding Inc., 23-10738, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

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