Who is bill lawrence ceo gibson

An entrepreneur and seasoned business executive, Bill Gibson has over 30 years’ experience in business brokerage, consulting and valuations.  As founder, CEO and owner-operator of a six million-dollar, multi-branch wholesale distribution firm, Bill acquired 14 years of hands-on business experience.  This, coupled with his creative strengths in financial management, operational structuring and business valuation has enabled him to achieve successful results in today’s changing marketplace and help business owners achieve financial success.  Bill’s innovative, ethical, and professional manner is the key to successful business sales, which allows the sellers of these businesses the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Bill has worked with over 1000 business owners, helping them to determine the value of their company. He has successfully developed complex business strategies for expanding or exiting businesses or professional practices.  These valuations have helped in acquisitions, estate planning, property settlements, business expansion, buy-sell agreements, divestiture, immigration and loan packaging.

After satisfying the educational requirements and conforming to the ethical standards of the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), Bill was awarded the designation of Certified Business Intermediary (CBI).  He has recently been awarded the Fellow of the IBBA, a lifetime award, which is awarded to IBBA members in good standing who have held the CBI certification for a minimum of ten years and has made significant contributions to the association during that time.  Bill is also a Certified Valuation Analyst from the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and has been awarded the designation of the Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary by the M&A Source of Chicago, IL.  He is a licensed Florida and Alabama Real Estate Broker.

Gibson Brands Inc., the 100+ old iconic guitar maker, faces possible bankruptcy in the next few months. Sparking concern for the guitar manufacturer is the departure of the company’s chief financial officer, Bill Lawrence. To meet its financial obligations coming due in July, Gibson is selling its Baldwin piano brand and has left its long time warehouse in Nashville.

Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO and majority shareholder, blames music store retailers for much of its woes. “There are problems with the guitar retail industry,” he said. “All of the retailers are fearful as can be; they’re all afraid of e-commerce, with Amazon just becoming the second largest employer in the U.S., and the brick and mortar guys are just panicking. They see the trend, and that trend isn’t taking them to a good place, and they’re all wondering if there will be a world for brick and mortar stores for much longer. It’s a turbulent world to be a retailer, and many of our retail partners are facing that same issue.”

Beyond the issue of failing retailers, Gibson has had to deal with a number of public relations problems in the recent past. Back in 2012 Gibson paid steep fines associated with criminal allegations for violating the Lacy Act, as a result of a raid on their warehouse, where the FBI found illegal shipments of wood from Madagascar. Responses to the latest of Gibson’s latest guitar models have not helped boost their credibility, either.

Although Gibson vintage guitars may sell for extraordinary sums—like $550,000 for a 1960 Les Paul Standard—the company’s P&L statement sees little benefit from these transactions. With annual revenues over $1 Billion, it’s a matter of whether Juszkiewicz will be able to convince investors that Gibson isn’t just a company of the previous century—the clock is ticking.

Dallin Earl is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2020).

Image: IMG_0195 by Chris Devarajs is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

If there’s a symbol that represents the crux and glory of rock n roll in its entirety, it’s the humble Gibson Les Paul. The guitar brand, over its 116 years of business has become a staple in the live show, recording and writing process of innumerable artists, transcending its humble beginnings as a vehicle for the moving riffs and melodies of the blues.

Brought to the foreground by legendary ax masters like Jimmy Page, Santana and Slash, all budding guitarists dream of one wielding an SG or Les Paul, harnessing its power.

Now, the legendary company may be facing serious financial struggle, with the Nashville Post reporting that the company may be “running out of time”.

The company, which was founded in Michigan over 100 years ago has faced internal tensions for a while now, with CFO Bill Lawrence leaving the company after less than a year on the job. According to the report, the company turns over an annual revenue of more than $1 billion which they describe as “far from normal”.

It is also detailed that the company will owe $145 million in bank loans that were issued in 2013, if a range of senior secured notes are not refinanced by July 23rd.

Gibson Brands CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has outlined the company’s plans, saying that they’ve “been monetizing assets like stock holdings, real property and business segments” however they’ve not “achieved the level of success we expected”.

Reassuringly, he also stated that it’s their main priority to restore financial success within the business and is sure they’ll be on “the best financial terms in the refinancing of our company.”

However, Gibson’s CFO has left the company…

As long time readers know, Strata-gee has followed the Gibson Brands story fairly closely since 2012, so the announcement last week that the company had completed this large coupon payment definitely caught my attention. Certainly, it was a good thing to make this interest payment to the debt holders, a move that at least buys the company some more time.

But at the same time, other more troubling news has emerged that Bill Lawrence, Gibson’s Chief Financial Officer, left the company at the end of January. Turnover in Gibson’s CFO position was cited by Moody’s Investors Service as a notable factor they considered when issuing a credit rating downgrade in 2016. Coming at this time, the departure of the CFO can’t be a good sign.

Vendors Cutting Terms and Shipments

Distressed debt industry newsletter Reorg Research, in a report on Gibson, shed some light on just how dire the situation has become at the company. In the report, Gibson Continues to Seek Completion of Recapitalization Before July as Secured Noteholders Anticipate In-Court Restructuring, reporter Chelsea Frankel offered an amazingly detailed and sobering assessment of the company’s situation. Citing unnamed sources, the report notes “the company’s liquidity has been affected by near-term events such as tightened terms from certain suppliers leading to cuts in shipments to the company.”

In an interview with company CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, he told them, “This was a short-term issue, which is being reconciled as we speak.” The report goes on to note that the company had counted on proceeds  from the sale of a Nashville property in their projected January cash flow, but that transaction did not happen. It further noted, as we’ve told Strata-gee readers previously, Gibson is embroiled in litigation now with two lawsuits pending.

Juszkiewicz told them that while the sale of a building in Nashville has been held up, they expect that sale to take place this month. Interestingly, Juszkiewicz added, “In addition, we have made some adjustments that will put us in a much better position than we have been for some months.” He did not clarify what that “adjustment” was.

Seeking a Half-Billion Dollar Package, But Wants Control

Reorg Research notes that Gibson’s advisors, Jefferies, Alvarez & Marsal and Goodwin Proctor, are attempting to restructure Gibson’s debt with a new $550 million package – more than half a billion dollars – of secured first lien financing and secured second lien financing. The report notes that “the recapitalization would give a substantial amount of equity to providers of second lien financing, but Juszkiewicz would maintain majority ownership in the company” according to their sources.

Here’s the kicker, they have further learned “that the company has not informed its creditors of any binding financing commitments for the intended recapitalization since it began to solicit financing in or around early December, but the company and its investment banker Jefferies are continuing to pursue such financing.” Translation, no new players have agreed to join the party.

If Restructuring Fails, Bankruptcy is Inevitable

A source told us that Juszkiewicz’s insistence on maintaining majority ownership is a major stumbling block to potential lenders/investors. If Gibson’s debt restructuring isn’t completed by July, then bankruptcy is inevitable.

Existing Gibson noteholders have retained financial advisors and “anticipate that the company will be unable to recapitalize its debt by July and will face a bankruptcy filing within the year.” Once that happens, the group would likely end up with more equity in the company through the bankruptcy.

Creditors Have Retained Japanese Lawyers

One final interesting note in the Reorg Research report, current Gibson noteholders have retained Japanese legal counsel “to determine whether the notes’ security interests in certain subsidiaries, including TEAC and Onkyo, have been perfected.” It is obvious that any financial holdings of debtor Gibson are valuable assets that could become entangled in a bankruptcy filing, and potentially turned over to the company’s debt holders, depending on the court’s decision. But we found it quite interesting that Gibson’s current noteholders are thinking…and acting…this far ahead.

While Gibson CEO Juszkiewicz still has time to get the recapitalization done, the window of opportunity is beginning to close. Then, things get much worse…

Learn more about Gibson at: www.gibson.com.