Grocery distributor Fleming has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection less than two months after losing a $4.5 billion supply deal with convenience store chain Kmart

Food & Drink Weekly, April 7, 2003

Grocery distributor Fleming has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection less than two months after losing a $4.5 billion supply deal with convenience store chain Kmart. The loss of the contract with Kmart, which itself filed for bankruptcy protection over a year ago, left Fleming struggling to find new business deals while also undergoing an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its accounting practices.

In documents filed April 1 with a bankruptcy court in Delaware, Fleming listed assets of $4.2 billion and debt of $3.5 billion. Fleming is negotiating for $150 million in debtor-in-possession funds and had secured immediate access to $50 million of that amount, in order to continue operating. Among creditors holding unsecured claims, Fleming owes $5.8 million to ConAgra Foods, $4.5 million to Procter & Gamble, $4.2 million to General Mills and $3.5 million to Unilever.