Creditors seek bankruptcy for U.S. craft firm Wilton

A New York affiliate of private equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners filed the involuntary bankruptcy petition against Wilton, which is owned by private equity firm GTCR Golder Rauner LLC of Chicago.

The affiliate, JGF Credit LLC, said in the court documents filed on Friday that it recently acquired $104.3 million of unsecured claims against Wilton.

Deutsche Bank Trust Co Americas of New York, acting as administrative agent for an additional $104.3 million claim, also joined the petition.

Wilton of Woodridge, Illinois, is one of the leading makers of products for decorating cakes and cookies and employs 1,200.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's cuts Wilton's debt rating to CCC+ in April, which was withdrawn at Wilton's request. S&P warned late last year that Wilton was highly leveraged, vulnerable to fads and a slowing economy and was behind on a plan to cut costs.

Wilton and TowerBrook could not be reached for comment.

The case is In re Wilton Holdings Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy District of Delaware, No. 09-12563.

(Reporting by Tom Hals; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)