Post by Aurion Wealth Advisors

That’s the bid from KPS Capital Partners to buy Briggs & Stratton Corp., the century-old maker of engines for lawn mowers and garden equipment, who filed for bankruptcy this year in July 2020. The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Missouri listed more than $1 billion each of assets and liabilities. The company has been pressured by falling sales and unfavorable weather conditions in key markets, as well as other factors including the 2018 bankruptcy of Sears Holdings Corp. The company also cited pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic, which “have made reorganization the difficult but necessary and appropriate path forward to secure our business” Hmmmm, COVID huh? let’s look back a little further. At one time the largest producer of small engines in the world and employer to 11,000 union production workers making a solid, middle-class living, handed its top executives $5 million in bonuses, calling them “retention awards.” Like vultures picking a carcass clean, these “bonuses” in the run-up to bankruptcy have become an all-too-frequent way for corporate executives to gift themselves with one last, egregious payday before stiffing their workers and creditors.