Vivaro Corporation

Client Profile
Vivaro Corporation (“Vivaro” or the “Company) provides innovative telecommunications products and focuses on the Hispanic community. With its significant market share and portfolio of over 300 prepaid calling card brands, Vivaro’s customers make calls to primarily Latin America as well as other parts of the world. The Company has the capacity to reach nearly 100,000 points-of-purchase making it one of the largest domestic distribution networks in the traditional prepaid card industry focused on Latin America.
Situation
Vivaro was formed after a series of acquisitions of companies in the prepaid calling card industry. The Company’s financial performance was negatively affected due to a decreased demand in calling cards, delinquencies in payments from distributors and carriers’ refusal to extend credit terms. As a result, the Company experienced constrained liquidity and struggled to meet its debt service obligations and filed for Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Solution
SSG was retained as the Company’s exclusive investment banker for the purpose of marketing the business and soliciting offers for the purchase of its assets. As part of its marketing process, SSG received three offers from strategic buyers and held an auction for the assets. After a spirited auction, a bid from Next Angel, LLC was determined to be the highest and best price for Vivaro’s assets. The sale was approved by the Bankruptcy Court and closed February 2013. SSG’s experience identifying alternate solutions and its understanding of the Chapter 11 sales process enabled all key stakeholders to maximize value while allowing the Company to preserve jobs and position itself for the long term with an adept strategic partner.