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A notice of auction for the sale of Bang Energy owner, Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX Sports), has been cancelled, with US-based Monster Beverage set to complete the acquisition. A court document filed on 28 June said that Monster subsidiary, Blast Asset Acquisition, was the successful bidder for VPX Sports' assets, which had been due to go up for auction today (30 June). The document filed with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida showed the two parties had entered into an asset purchase agreement whereby the assets were valued at $362 million, including a $25 million deposit and assumption of assumed liabilities. VPX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida, US, in October 2022 to help the company recover from multiple lawsuits that had impacted its “short-term outlook” and a cost impact of “reconstituting the company’s national distribution network that resulted in a summer revenue gap”. Monster Energy was awarded approximately $293 million in damages from the District Court for the Central District of California in a false advertising and trade secrets case against VPX two weeks prior to the filing. The jury found VPX and its former chief executive officer John H. Owoc to have falsely advertised the “super creatine” ingredient of Bang Energy. In April, Monster was granted a permanent injunction by the court preventing Bang Energy from marketing its drinks as containing “super creatine”, or any other form of creatine. VPX said in a court filing that the proposed sale to Monster is supported by its lenders and "represents the only viable path" to repaying its creditors in Chapter 11. It also stated that the sale was being upheld by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC had indicated it would issue a review of the Monster transaction as part of the process. Bang Energy announced it had terminated its exclusive distribution partnership with PepsiCo in November 2020, seven months after the agreement was made. At the time, the brand cited multiple issues and concerns regarding its performance since the distribution partnership began with PepsiCo. FoodBev has reached out to VPX and Monster Beverage for comment.