SteelBlue Building Components - Chapter 11 Case Summary

SteelBlue Building Components filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a paused investor financing, reduced borrowing capacity from its lender, a significant need for capital expenditure investment, and heightened working capital demands from its expansion into installation and new market segments, seeking to monetize its assets while operating on cash collateral rather than DIP financing, backed by adequate protection liens for Austin Financial Services, the $5.2 million secured lender the company contends is well oversecured.

Business Description

SteelBlue Building Components, LLC ("SteelBlue"), a Delaware limited liability company with main offices in Pittsburgh, manufactures and distributes self-storage and commercial doors along with hallway systems, serving the self-storage, shed, and light warehouse/industrial markets, and operates from a 118,000-square-foot facility in Georgetown, KY.

SteelBlue and its sole member, Anfield Capital Newco Investors, LLC ("Anfield," and together with SteelBlue, the "Debtors"), each filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition in the Northern District of Georgia on September 4, 2026 (the "Petition Date"). Revenues grew from $7 million in 2022 to over $46 million in 2025, with the Debtors reporting fiscal year 2025 revenues of approximately $46.1 million and EBITDA of approximately $4.2 million. As of the filing, contract backlog stood at over $20 million.

Corporate History

SteelBlue was founded on October 21, 2021 and became operational in May 2022. Anfield, a Georgia limited liability company, is its sole member and holds no assets or operations other than that membership interest.

Operations Overview

As of the Petition Date the Debtors employed approximately 96 people on a combined basis, approximately 60 of them hourly and 36 salaried. SteelBlue's workforce runs between its corporate office, which accounts for 22, and the Georgetown manufacturing facility.

The Debtors have direct relationships with approximately six utility companies (collectively, the "Utility Companies") providing electric, water, gas, telephone, internet, and other services, and state that termination or disruption of those services would almost certainly force them out of business. The Debtors were current on all amounts owing to the Utility Companies as of the Petition Date, apart from any payment interruption caused by the commencement of the cases, and may have posted security deposits with certain of them.

Prepetition Obligations

As of the Petition Date, SteelBlue was indebted to two prepetition creditors.

Austin Financial Services, Inc. ("AFS") — approximately $5.2 million outstanding as of the Petition Date under a loan and security agreement and related documents dated on or about September 15, 2023. AFS contends the obligations are secured by a first priority lien on all of SteelBlue's assets, including personal property, accounts receivable, and inventory, and would contend that proceeds of that collateral constitute cash collateral under section 363(a). The Debtors value the AFS collateral at at least $10 million.
Samson MCA LLC ("Samson") — approximately $1.5 million outstanding as of the Petition Date under agreements dated March 10, 2026 and April 28, 2026. Samson contends the obligations are either a true sale of future receipts or a loan secured by a lien on all of SteelBlue's assets, and may contend that proceeds constitute cash collateral under section 363(a).

An August 12, 2026 UCC search with the Delaware Secretary of State revealed two active UCC-1 filings, one in favor of AFS and one in favor of CT Corporation, as representative, which the Debtors believe may have been filed by Samson. That second filing was terminated on August 28, 2026, and the Debtors believe AFS is therefore the only party with an active UCC-1 and the only potential perfected secured party against SteelBlue's assets. On that basis the Debtors assert that Samson holds, at best, an unperfected lien subject to avoidance under section 544.

Employee Obligations

Certain prepetition employee obligations accrued in whole or in part before the Petition Date and remain unpaid, becoming due and payable in the ordinary course on and after the Petition Date. These obligations (collectively, the "Employee Obligations") cover wages, salaries, and other compensation; payroll taxes; qualified 401(k) plan obligations; health and welfare benefits; and other benefits. The Debtors believe substantially all of the Employee Obligations are priority claims and that no employee is owed amounts exceeding the $17,150 statutory limit under sections 507(a)(4) and 507(a)(5). Certain employees also paid company expenses out of personal funds and are entitled to reimbursement, in the majority of instances totaling less than a few thousand dollars per employee; the Debtors seek authority, but not the obligation, to reimburse those amounts, provided that reimbursements together with the Employee Obligations do not exceed the $17,150 per-employee priority cap.

Events Leading to Bankruptcy

The Debtors date the impetus for the filing to late July 2026, when a potential large investment was paused in order to extend evaluation and review results for June and July, with a potential close in September. June met expectations, but lending pressures from SteelBlue's existing lender continued through extensions and communications gaps, disrupting production and leading to missing the mark significantly in July. Liquidity worsened heading into August, and economic pressures left SteelBlue few options but to pause and contemplate protection as it began taking measures to restructure.

The Debtors attribute the broader deterioration, notwithstanding growth since inception, to four compounding pressures:

a significant need for capital expenditure investment to build the company and maintain growth;
higher working capital requirements following entry into the installation business and new market segments;
a reduction in borrowing capacity from its lender, which ceased lending on machinery and equipment, installation, and inventory, producing a critical shortfall of cash; and
the resulting difficulty in continuing to operate and maintain revenues to deliver on operating plans.

To protect SteelBlue's business, its customers, its employees, and its other parties in interest, the Debtors determined to file for Chapter 11 relief.

Chapter 11 Filing

The Debtors seek joint administration of the two cases, along with designation as complex Chapter 11 cases on the grounds that there are more than 100 parties in interest excluding former and current employees, that the Debtors are not individuals, and that they do not own single asset real estate.

Cash Collateral

The Debtors seek authority to use cash collateral in accordance with a proposed budget, together with adequate protection and the scheduling of a final hearing. Use of cash collateral is described as essential to maintaining the value of the Debtors' property and to an effective monetization of their assets, and to meeting ongoing obligations. The Debtors do not propose to use cash collateral to pay prepetition amounts absent court order. Adequate protection offered to AFS consists of adequate protection liens and a commitment to use cash collateral only for items set forth in a court-approved budget, with the Debtors intending to demonstrate at the hearing that AFS is well oversecured.

Other First-Day Relief

Utilities — an interim and final order under section 366 prohibiting the Utility Companies from altering, refusing, or discontinuing service on account of prepetition invoices, deeming them adequately assured of future performance, and establishing determination procedures, with the final hearing requested on a date before the thirtieth day after the Petition Date. For Utility Companies holding a security deposit and for those that do not, the Debtors propose to pay in the ordinary course an amount equal to the current invoice for which a portion of the services rendered relates to a prepetition period, with no other adequate assurance required. A Utility Company that believes additional assurance is required may seek it under the determination procedures.
Wages — authority to pay prepetition wages, payroll taxes, certain employee benefits, related expenses, and other compensation to employees and independent contractors.
Creditor Matrix — authority to file a single consolidated list of the Debtors' 30 largest general unsecured creditors and to have the noticing agent serve the notice of commencement on all parties entitled to it.
Cash management — authority to maintain the existing bank accounts and cash management system. The Debtors maintained accounts at Wells Fargo and Pinnacle Bank ("Pinnacle") prepetition; postpetition they will use only one account at Pinnacle (the "Pinnacle Account"), which Pinnacle will designate as a debtor-in-possession account, and will close the Wells Fargo accounts, with the ability to open additional accounts at Pinnacle for specified purposes.

Professionals

The Debtors seek to retain Scroggins, Williamson & Ray, P.C. as bankruptcy counsel, having been counseled by the firm for several weeks before the Petition Date; GGG Partners, LLC as financial advisor, having been counseled by that firm for a number of months before the Petition Date; and Epiq Corporate Restructuring, LLC as claims, noticing, and balloting agent, including for mailing of the disclosure statement, plan, and ballots and tallying votes in connection with any plan the Debtors propose.