Bid Procedures Motion/Sale Process
The debtors say that they have been exploring a sale or refinancing over the past eight months through FocalPoint Partners, which contacted 146 strategic and financial investors. Two parties submitted non-binding term sheets, one of which sought to structure a transaction solely involving the acquisition of the debtors’ secured debt along with some contingent consideration. According to the debtors, though the other party originally contemplated a cash investment, along with a restructuring of the secured debt,“after further diligence and discussions, this interested party indicated it would be only willing to provide such investment in connection with an acquisition of the secured term loan debt which it would use to bid on the Debtors’ assets in a court-supervised sale process.” Both interested parties ultimately determined to “pass on the investment opportunity.”
As funds dwindled and no third-party acquirer emerged with a concrete proposal to satisfy their secured obligations and continue the business as a going concern, the debtors were “faced with the specter of immediately ceasing operations, laying off their remaining employees, and beginning a liquidation process.”
According to the bid procedures motion, the stalking horse purchase price is $10.3 million plus the balance owing under the proposed DIP facility, estimated at $6 million, in the form of a credit bid plus the “assumption of certain liabilities.” Initial overbids are $100,000 (for a minimum competing opening bid of $16.4 million), and a deposit equal to 10% of the purchase price is required.
The purchased assets include avoidance actions arising from or related to any contract or other obligation that will be assumed and assigned to the purchaser as part of the sale, as well as all equity in Schramm Australia.
The assumed liabilities include cure amounts and post-closing liabilities under assumed contracts and permits arising from and after the closing date, all unpaid accounts payable arising after the petition date in the ordinary course, and allowed section 503(b)(9) claims for delivery of goods within 20 days prior to the petition date.
The bid procedures motion also proposes that the stalking horse bidder would offer employment to all employees, including management, at the same base salary or hourly wage received by such employees immediately prior to closing.
Liabilities excluded from the transaction include, among other things, taxes, professional fees and expenses, and debts and liabilities of Schramm Australia at the time of closing.
The debtors propose the following sale timeline:
DIP Financing Motion /Cash Collateral Motion
The debtors request approval of $6 million in DIP financing from stalking horse bidder Schramm II in the form of a delayed-draw term loan promissory note, with interim access of up to $3 million. The company also seeks approval to use Hark and GenNx360’s cash collateral “subject to the terms and limitations set forth in the Interim Order.”
The DIP financing bears interest at 12%, with an additional 2% for the default rate of interest, and matures 120 days after the petition date. The DIP proceeds may be used to fund working capital requirements, costs and expenses of administration of the chapter 11 cases and fees and expenses relating to the DIP facility.
In support of the proposed DIP financing, the debtors filed the declaration of FocalPoint’s
Michael Fixler, who states that “given the Debtors’ current projections and their relative lack of unencumbered assets, immediate access to the DIP Facility and use of cash collateral is necessary for the Debtors’ continued operations, including to pay critical expenses such as wages, salaries, and benefits, to procure necessary goods and services (and maintain trade terms with the Debtors’ vendors), to finance the costs of these Chapter 11 Cases, and to meet certain other working capital needs.”
Further, according to the debtors, “[d]uring the course of restructuring negotiations, it became clear that the Debtors’ prepetition secured lenders would not agree to be primed by a third-party lender. Given the Debtors’ desire to avoid the cost and uncertainty of a postpetition DIP financing facility that would attempt to non-consensually prime the Debtors’ prepetition secured lenders, the Debtors and their advisors concluded that, under the circumstances, acceptable third-party financing was not reasonably obtainable.”
To secure the DIP financing, the debtors propose to grant a first priority, priming lien on all encumbered property of the debtors and their estates that would be senior to any existing liens or claims and junior only to the carveout and certain permitted senior liens. The motion says that the debtors “do not expect the Interim Order to provide for any non-consensual priming of Hark, GenNx360, or the Agent other than with respect to the Carve-Out.” Pursuant to the final order, the debtors also propose to grant liens on the proceeds of avoidance actions.
The DIP agreement contains affirmative and negative covenants “in form and substance customary for debtor-in-possession financing of this type such as the Approved Budget and Permitted Variances (as defined therein) and taking into account the specific transaction, subject to, where appropriate, carve-outs and exceptions to be agreed.”
Adequate Protection
The company proposes adequate protection to the prepetition secured parties in the form of junior security interests and replacement liens (which would be subordinate to the carveout, the DIP obligations, the DIP liens, the DIP superpriority claims and the permitted senior liens), superpriority administrative expense claims and “customary admissions and stipulations with respect to the amounts outstanding under the Prepetition Financing Documents, the validity, perfection, enforceability and priority of liens and security interests securing the obligations under the Prepetition Financing Documents, the non-existence of any grounds for the Debtors to challenge any aspect of the Prepetition Financing Documents and the obligations thereunder or the respective holders thereof and a release by the Debtors with respect to the foregoing.”
In addition, the debtors propose a waiver of the estates’ right to seek to surcharge its collateral pursuant to Bankruptcy Code section 506(c) and the “equities of the case” exception under section 552(b).
The carveout for fees and expenses of retained professionals, the CRO and official unsecured creditors committee is $50,000.
DIP Budget
The proposed budget for the use of the DIP facility is
HERE.
DIP Milestones
The DIP financing is subject to the following milestones:
- Bid procedures motion: filed by June 27
- Interim DIP order: entered by June 27
- Bid procedures order: entered by July 19
- Final DIP order: entered by July 24
- Sale order: entered by Aug. 28
- Sale closing: by Sept. 3
Other Motions
The debtors also filed various standard first day motions, including the following:
- Motion for Joint Administration
- The cases will be jointly administered under case no. 19-11396.
- Motion to Pay Critical Vendors
- The debtors seek to pay critical vendors up to $1.269 million on an interim basis and $1.692 million on a final basis. The debtors also propose that all critical vendor payments be applied first to any claims entitled to administrative expense priority under section 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code or good received by the debtors within 20 days of the petition date.
- Motion to Pay Employee Wages and Benefits
- HDR requests authority to pay employee obligations on an interim basis in the approximate amounts: