Lolli & Pops Inc., a San Francisco-based candy retailer with 69 U.S. shops, has filed for bankruptcy after being locked out of about 10 percent of its stores last week, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The purveyor of such sweets as strawberry-champagne bark, blue-raspberry cotton candy and cookies-and-creme crispycakes sought protection from creditors Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Paxion Capital LP has offered to provide up to $7 million in financing to help Lolli & Pops look for a buyer while under bankruptcy protection. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based investment firm is also a major equity investor in the business, as is Greenoaks Capital Partners LLC. Other shareholders include Riverwood Capital and V-Ten Investments LLC, a court filing says. Unsecured creditors include First Republic Bank , which is owed $7 million for a loan, the retailer said in court papers. The company’s “liabilities are mostly with its vendors and landlords,” said Chief Restructuring Officer Jeff Nerland in a court filing. The chapter 11 petition lists liabilities ranging from $10 million to $50 million.
