Bayou Steel creditors committee objects to ‘truncated sale timeline’

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Oct. 16 – Bayou Steel BD Holdings, LLC’s official committee of unsecured creditors objected to the bid procedures for the proposed sale of the company’s assets, according to a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

“While the committee supports implementation of a going-concern sale process designed to maximize value for all stakeholders, the debtors are unnecessarily seeking to jam through bid procedures, including a truncated sale timeline and preapproval of bid protections, before the committee has the opportunity to get up-to-speed and properly assess the proposed sale process,” the objection said.

The committee said it was formed less than a week ago, and so far it has only hired counsel and has had initial discussions with Bayou Steel regarding the events that led up to the bankruptcy filing and the company’s perceived path for these cases.

The creditor group said it hopes to work cooperatively with Bayou and other parties-in-interest to help foster a successful sale process that maximizes the value of the estates for all stakeholders, but, given that the company is in the early stages of the sale process and the fact that the committee has only just been formed, the committee said Bayou’s request to have the bid procedures considered on shortened notice should be denied.

In addition, the committee said it does not yet have access to enough information to assess the proposed sale process, and it is still in the process of hiring a financial advisory firm to assist in the evaluation of the reasonableness of a 60-day timeline proposed for the sale of an idled steel manufacturing company.

In an order entered Tuesday, the court denied Bayou’s request to have the bid procedures considered on shortened notice.

The bid procedures hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5.

Bayou Steel is a Laplace, La., manufacturer of light structural and merchant bar steel products. The company filed bankruptcy on Oct. 1 under Chapter 11 case number 19-12153.

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