Acon Investments LLC, the buyout firm that owns a bankrupt Applebee’s franchisee, wants to recapitalize the restaurant operator while also leaving the door open for a new bidder to emerge in the chapter 11 proceedings, a lawyer for the franchisee said, the Wall Street Journal. The disclosure came during a hearing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., during which RMH Franchise Holdings Inc. faced off against Bank of America NA, which leads a group of secured lenders. The bank said last week that the restaurant operator, which sought protection from creditors in May, should put itself up for sale immediately before it gets to use any more cash to run its business. Bank of America previously consented to three earlier requests for RMH to use cash. By the end of the hearing, Bank of America and Atlanta-based RMH ultimately came to an agreement allowing the company to continue to use “cash collateral” through the end of August, at which point the company expects to have filed both a proposed plan of reorganization and bid procedures for outside parties interested in buying its assets.
