It’s hard to sell bourbon that isn’t bourbon yet.
As more distilleries become insolvent amid weakening demand, bankruptcy trustees tasked with raising as much money as possible to repay creditors face a problem: how to sell off alcohol that needs years of aging before it can be called straight bourbon. Anything before that point is raw distillate with far less value.
Bourbon is just one example of the increasingly eclectic, and often difficult to value, classes of assets being offered for sale through the bankruptcy marketplace. Alongside real estate, unused tax credits, intellectual property, and unpaid judgments, debtors across the financial spectrum have offered a 1990 Ferrari F40, private jets, thoroughbred horses, crypto accounts, and even batches of unused Starbucks gift cards.
The marketplace offers a window into a hidden corner of the economy, where conventional, unconventional, and emerging assets are priced, marketed, and sold under court supervision. What appears for sale often mirrors broader bankruptcy filings and financial stress.
Spirit Airlines, for instance, listed 23 aircraft for sale during its first bankruptcy in 2024 as travel demand softened after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The economy dictates what we may see and what we may be selling, it’s debtor-driven,” Donald R. Lassman, an attorney and bankruptcy trustee in Massachusetts, said.
Most recently, a Claude Monet ‘Water Lilies’ painting from the collection of bankrupt hedge fund manager George Weiss showed up on Inforuptcy, a subscription website for professionals and distressed-asset investors that scans court documents and sale motions from the government’s online docket system and converts them into listings. Think Craigslist, only for bankruptcy assets.
This article was originally published by Bloomberg Law.
Photo: Jennifer Morris
Angélica Serrano Román 