Republic National Distributing Company, LLC, at its height the nation's second-largest wine and spirits distributor with approximately $12 billion in annual revenue, filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on July 26, 2026 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The cases are jointly administered under Case No. 26-90737 before Judge Christopher Lopez. A sustained decline in alcohol consumption after the pandemic, the loss of several key suppliers between late 2022 and 2025, and RNDC's withdrawal from the California market, announced in June 2025 and completed by September 2, 2025, left the Company unable to service the debt behind its multi-decade, acquisition-driven expansion. A prepetition sale of certain markets to Reyes-affiliated buyers, which the Debtors call the Reyes Sale Transactions, was required to close by May 31, 2026 under the terms of the Company's prepetition lenders, and the resulting proceeds paid down more than $1.1 billion of secured debt before the petition date. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Porter Hedges LLP represent the Debtors, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC is investment banker, and AlixPartners LLP is financial advisor.

RNDC's Chapter 11 plan, filed eight days after the petition, and its disclosure statement, filed the following day, describe a wind-down rather than an operating reorganization. The Debtors intend to sell the remaining business in pieces and distribute proceeds to creditors through a litigation trust rather than emerge from the case as a going concern. The rest of this report covers docket activity from August 24 through September 7, 2026.

Source: Petition [Dkt. 1]; Disclosure Statement [Dkt. 118]; Sale Motion [Dkt. 338], at 3.

On August 28, the official committee of unsecured creditors filed a reservation of rights stating that, after three weeks of negotiation with the Debtors and the DIP lenders, it was close to a global resolution of its concerns with the DIP financing and with the confirmation timeline described in the Debtors' solicitation procedures motion, though it noted that a few open points and the documentation itself still required further work. The committee's filing also noted that the Debtors would not proceed with the solicitation procedures motion at the hearing then scheduled for August 31, and would instead adjourn it to a later date.

Consistent with that, the Debtors filed a notice on August 29 formally adjourning the hearing on the motion to conditionally approve the disclosure statement and approve solicitation procedures, which had been set for August 31, 2026, to a date to be determined. At the August 31 hearing itself, the Bankruptcy Court entered a final order granting the DIP motion in full, putting the $250 million facility on a final footing. Per the courtroom minutes, the same hearing set the disclosure statement hearing for September 10, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., and set October 22, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. for a combined confirmation hearing. A transcript and audio recording of the August 31 hearing are both on the docket.

Source: Committee Reservation of Rights [Dkt. 264]; Final DIP Order [Dkt. 275]; Courtroom Minutes [Dkt. 272]; Notice of Adjournment [Dkt. 267].

The Reyes relationship that funded RNDC's prepetition debt paydown closed out during this same window. The Bankruptcy Court had approved the Debtors' process for settling Reyes-related claims on an interim basis back on August 19. No party objected by the deadline, the Debtors filed a certificate of no objection on September 3, and the court entered a final order approving the settlement on September 4, roughly six weeks after the Debtors first proposed the process in a first-day motion.

Source: Reyes Settlement Motion [Dkt. 17]; Certificate of No Objection [Dkt. 296]; Final Order [Dkt. 298].

The official committee of unsecured creditors has been active on the docket throughout this period. It filed exhibit and witness lists ahead of the August 31 hearing, filed the August 28 reservation of rights described above, and on September 6 filed an application to employ McDermott Will & Schulte LLP as its counsel, supported by declarations from two committee professionals addressing the firm's disinterestedness. The application is subject to the standard 21-day objection period.

Source: Committee Reservation of Rights [Dkt. 264]; Application to Employ McDermott Will & Schulte LLP [Dkt. 340].

On September 4 and 5, the Debtors filed 18 schedules-of-assets-and-liabilities and statements-of-financial-affairs packages, the formal accounting required under section 521 of the Bankruptcy Code and previously subject to an extension granted on the first day of the case. The filings were made for RNDC and affiliated entities including RNDC Texas, RNDC Alaska, RNDC Arkansas, RNDC Indiana Holdings, RNDC Michigan, RNDC New Hampshire, RNDC Receivables, RNDC Shared Services, K&L Beverage Company, WSJV Holdings, 8201 Associates, and three separate Young's Market Company entities operating in Arizona, Oregon, and Washington.

Source: Docket Nos. 302-337, Case No. 26-90737.

On August 26, the Debtors filed an emergency motion asking the court to set September 28, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Central time, 64 days after the petition date, as the general deadline for creditors to file proofs of claim, with a later January 22, 2027 deadline for governmental units. The Debtors filed a revised proposed order on September 1 along with a notice setting the motion for hearing, and it is going forward at the hearing on September 8. A handful of creditors, including the Internal Revenue Service, W.W. Grainger, ADP, and Remy Cointreau USA, have already filed proofs of claim on the docket even though no bar date has yet been entered.

Source: Bar Date Motion [Dkt. 250], at 2; Notice of Revised Proposed Order [Dkt. 284]; Notice of Hearing [Dkt. 285].

On September 4, the Debtors filed a motion to approve a Key Employee Incentive Plan for five senior executives the Debtors describe as essential to closing the remaining sales and winding down operations in an orderly way, noting that one similarly situated executive has already departed. The KEIP carries an anticipated maximum cost of approximately $2.3 million if the Debtors hit a stretch performance tier, and payouts are tied to the consummation of the Debtors' postpetition sale transactions, which the motion identifies as the Control States sale, an Alaska sale, a Kentucky sale, and a sale of Michigan franchise rights, alongside the wind-down of whatever remains.

Source: KEIP Motion [Dkt. 300], at 2.

The Control States sale referenced in the KEIP motion became concrete on September 5, when the Debtors filed an emergency motion to approve a private sale of the Control States business, spanning seventeen states, to Martignetti Companies Control State, LLC and two related Martignetti entities, under an Asset Purchase Agreement signed the same day. Lazard's marketing process for the Control States ran for months and contacted more than 50 potential buyers before Martignetti emerged as the only actionable bidder for the business as a single package.

Source: Sale Motion [Dkt. 338], at 2-4.

Three matters are scheduled over the next six weeks: the September 8 hearing on the bar date motion, the September 10 hearing on the disclosure statement and solicitation procedures, and the October 22 combined confirmation hearing. The objection deadline for the Martignetti sale motion, September 18, falls in between.

Source: Docket Nos. 250, 264, 267, 272, 275, 284, 285, 298, 300, 338, 340, Case No. 26-90737.