The debt will be with suppliers. Sapporo will either need to pay that, or Anchor will, if the business carries on. Otherwise suppliers will either choose to not

The debt will be with suppliers. Sapporo will either need to pay that, or Anchor will, if the business carries on. Otherwise suppliers will either choose to not supply, make every deal cash up front, increase prices to absorb past losses or a combination of all 3. This includes production suppliers, but also things like leases, rent etc. By contrast, shuttering it completely, selling off the barrels, makes the balance of the debt just go away. The landlord gets to simply write off owed rent. Obviously prior owners will often take on debt to keep the business afloat. That might be financed debt, or credit lines. Or just non payments (rent etc). Resurrecting the business is hard because those suppliers have to be made whole. That's usually the killer in saving a failing business.