Guitar company Gibson reportedly facing bankruptcy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Heartland Newsfeed) — According to a report, Gibson, the iconic guitar brand whose Les Paul and SG instruments have been played by generations of musicians including Slash, Bob Marley and Carlos Santana since its 1902 founding in Kalamazoo, Mich., could be on the brink of bankruptcy.   Bill Lawrence, Gibson’s chief financial officer, recently left the firm six months prior to $375 million in senior-secured notes were due to mature, according to a report by the Nashville Post earlier this month. Lawrence had been working for the company for little over a year before departing. Gibson currently has annual revenues of more than $1 billion, but should those senior-secured notes not be refinanced by mid-July, $145 million in bank loans will immediately become due. Chief executive officer Henry Juszkiewicz is considered to be in a race against time as to whether exchange the company’s debt, try and pay it off utilizing his own equity or declare the company for bankruptcy. The Nashville-based company has hired investment bank Jeffries to assist with its current financial situation. Gibson issued a statement Thursday regarding an ongoing streamlining strategy which will help assist in recording the “best financial results the company has seen in its history within the next year.” The statement added that they will have the ability to pay back the current debt in whole by 2025.