Two U.S. Subsidiaries of Stoli Group File for Bankruptcy, in Part Because of Cyberattack
Stoli Group USA and Kentucky Owl — U.S.-based subsidiaries of vodka and liquor manufacturer Stoli Group — filed for bankruptcy in the wake of a cyberattack and Russia’s seizure of the company’s distilleries in that nation, according to news reports. The Luxembourg-based Stoli Group, however, is not bankrupt.
According to a Reuters report citing bankruptcy court documents, the two companies entered the bankruptcy with $84 million in debt and will be looking to recover from the cyberattack and negotiate debt restructuring.
The Russian government seized two of Stoli Group’s distilleries in the country in July 2024. The report noted that Stoli Group had already shifted vodka production to Latvia, but the seized distilleries were still worth roughly $100 million.
Then, in August 2024, Stoli Group was hit with a data breach and ransomware attack that has knocked its centralized business software out — which would not be restored until the first quarter of 2025 or later, the Reuters report said. The cyberattack prevented Stoli USA and Kentucky Owl from updating their lenders with financials, and the lenders have said that both companies had defaulted on the $78 million owed.
Access to financing was cut off by the lenders for the two companies, and the lenders also attempted to stop Kentucky Owl and its vendors from moving or selling inventory without approval from the lenders. Kentucky Owl has about 29,000 barrels of bourbon aging at a contractor-owned storage facility currently, the report noted.
