Vice Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday to facilitate a sale of the company and safeguard its future, according to court documents and a statement from the struggling media group.

The company, which publishes news, technology, and lifestyle websites such as Vice, Motherboard, and Refinery29, made the filing in the Southern District of New York. The filing stated that the company had assets and liabilities worth between $500 million and $1 billion.

A group of creditors, which includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management, and Monroe Capital, had made a conditional bid for “substantially all of the company’s assets,” Vice said. The lenders had agreed to provide approximately $225 million, and would assume “significant liabilities” upon closing of the deal.

The sale process, which should conclude in the next two to three months, would allow other parties to submit “higher or better bids” for the company, it added. Vice’s international entities and Vice TV, a joint venture with A&E Networks, are not part of the chapter 11 filing or the sale process.

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