EEI Global Inc. (EEI Global) and EEI Mobile LLC (EEI Mobile), commonly owned, referred together as EEI, was an award-winning experiential marketing company known for its full-service production capabilities for conventions, trade shows, marketing events, and similar brand-building experiences, particularly for automotive OEMs and their suppliers.
The fabricating workforce of EEI Global was unionized, while the event and digital marketing-focused EEI Mobile was a nonunion company.
The COVID pandemic effectively shut down all face-to-face marketing events including auto shows and trade shows. Coming out of the pandemic, the auto industry shifted marketing dollars away from traditional auto shows. As a result, EEI’s revenues suffered due to the loss of the large booth builds for the auto shows and lower marketing budgets overall.
Despite efforts to address these challenges, the company was unable to fully recover and engaged Capstone’s Financial Advisory Services (FAS) team to evaluate alternative options, including filing Chapter 11 and executing a sale process.
Capstone determined that value for creditors would be maximized by selling EEI’s asset base and book of business in pieces to multiple strategic buyers and executed a competitive sale process that generated numerous indications of interest.
Despite the complexities created by a withdrawal liability associated with the unionized division, Capstone’s process led to the secured lender and unsecured creditors being paid in full after the Plan of Confirmation was approved by the court. Additionally, a majority of EEI employees found employment with the strategic acquirors.
