Last Thursday, July 17, Olympic Sales, Inc. and Olympic Boat Sales
Holdings Co., which have 21 dealerships on the West Coast, and together
the second largest boat dealer organization in North America, filed a
Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Fernando Valley, CA.
Bloomberg News reported that the company had assets and debt of as much
as $100 million. The company had struggled for the last couple of years
and was widely known to be ailing. If Chapter 11 reorganization is
granted, Olympic will remain in business protected from its creditors
and be on a workout program.

Olympic Boat Sales was founded in 1955 and now reportedly has 21
dealerships stretching from San Diego, CA to Nanaimo, British Columbia.
In 1998 the majority of the company was bought by The Riverside Co., a
Cleveland-based private equity firm.


*** According to the bankruptcy filing Brunswick owns 12% of the
company. The filing stated that there were 999 creditors and that Mass.
Mutual Life Ins. is the biggest creditor at $6.1 million. ***


I wasn't aware that a conglomerate boat manufacturer owned such a big
chunk of a dealership...