Apex Linen Service LLC, a private-equity-backed provider of dry cleaning and laundry services to Las Vegas hotels and casinos, has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the havoc that the coronavirus pandemic has created in the travel business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. “The sharp decline in tourism due to the closure of Las Vegas hotels and casinos for months caused a precipitous drop in demand” for the laundering of bed linens, towels and employee uniforms, and for guest dry cleaning, Apex Managing Member Chris Bryan said on Thursday in a court filing. As a result, Apex, which had $21.3 million in revenue last year, temporarily shut down operations. The fallout from COVID-19 constrained the company’s liquidity and caused defaults under its lending agreements, Apex lawyer Harley Goldstein told The Wall Street Journal. Apex and its lenders began discussions as the liquidity crisis worsened, but weren’t able to reach consensus, prompting the chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., said Mr. Goldstein, of the law firm Goldstein & McClintock LLLP. The company, which restarted operations as Las Vegas hotels have begun reopening, expects to reorganize and continue serving customers in an improved economy, Goldstein said. Apex entered bankruptcy with about $200,000 in cash on hand. The company expects to arrange additional funding shortly to help it get through bankruptcy, and alternatives for its leaving bankruptcy, such as a sale or debt-for-equity swap, are also being discussed, Goldstein said.
