Red Lobster Stake Cut

TCW Group has marked down its Red Lobster equity stake by about 98%, leaving the holding worth less than $1 million after the chain’s 2024 bankruptcy overhaul. (bloomberg.com) Bloomberg reported the write-down on April 14, 2026, citing a regulatory filing for TCW Direct Lending VII. The fund had previously valued the Red Lobster stake at about $31 million. (bloomberg.com) TCW did not buy into Red Lobster through a normal stock-market trade. It got equity as part of the restaurant chain’s Chapter 11 restructuring, which Red Lobster entered on May 19, 2024, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. (prnewswire.com) Red Lobster exited bankruptcy on September 16, 2024, when RL Investor Holdings completed its acquisition of the chain. RL Investor Holdings was formed by funds managed by Fortress Investment Group, alongside co-investors TCW Private Credit and Blue Torch. (prnewswire.com) That means the latest write-down points to how much ownership changed in the restructuring. The old company was wiped through bankruptcy, and the new owners took control of a privately held Red Lobster built around lender-backed capital. (prnewswire.com) Red Lobster emerged from Chapter 11 with 545 restaurants across 44 United States states and four Canadian provinces, and Damola Adamolekun was appointed chief executive officer. Nation’s Restaurant News reported the chain was more than 100 units smaller than when it sought court protection in May 2024. (fortress.com) (nrn.com) The bankruptcy followed mounting operating strain. Red Lobster said in its May 2024 filing that it needed to optimize its real-estate footprint, secure a buyer, and use a $100 million debtor-in-possession financing commitment from existing lenders to keep operating through court proceedings. (prnewswire.com) The chain is still trying to stabilize after the restructuring. Restaurant Business reported last week that Red Lobster’s sales fell in 2025 and that the company is still dealing with several of the pressures that pushed it into bankruptcy. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) For Red Lobster, the write-down does not change who runs the restaurants day to day. It does show that one lender-turned-owner now values its slice of the post-bankruptcy company at a tiny fraction of what it once carried on its books. (bloomberg.com)