EYP Group ordered by court to qualify competing bid for assets

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., June 10 – EYP Group Holdings, Inc. was ordered to qualify a bid from Page Southerland Page, Inc. for its assets, according to court documents filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

As previously reported, after the company canceled a Wednesday auction, saying it had received no qualified bids, the official committee of unsecured creditors asked the court to compel the company to qualify the competing bid.

EYP said in the cancellation notice that it would seek court approval to sell the assets to the stalking horse bidder, which is senior secured lender Ault Alliance, Inc., a private equity firm owned by BitNile Holdings, Inc., formerly known as Ault Global Holdings, Inc.

The purchase price under the stalking horse agreement is $67.7 million, which consists of a credit bid of up to $11.75 million, consisting of the amount under the company’s $5 million debtor-in-possession facility and the full amount of the debt owed under the company’s senior secured facility, with the remainder of the consideration consisting of cash and assumed liabilities.

However, the committee filed a motion seeking to extend the auction so that Page could establish financing in order to have the bid qualified. According to Friday’s order, Page agreed to increase its bid to $5 million above the value of the stalking horse bid, and the court agreed to extend the auction to Monday.

Page has posted a $10 million deposit to the debtor’s account, which the debtor will keep if Page fails to close the transaction. The stalking horse has made no deposit, the committee noted.

Page has also received a term sheet from Bank of America for a $50 million revolving line of credit to help fund the purchase of the assets, the committee said.

When asked about qualifying Page’s bid, the company had expressed that the competing bid might encourage the stalking horse to terminate its asset purchase agreement or call a DIP default.

The committee said it would object to the sale if the stalking horse is selected as winning bidder.

The sale hearing is scheduled for June 22.

Albany, N.Y.-based EYP is an integrated design firm specializing in higher education, health care, government and science & technology. It filed bankruptcy on April 24 under Chapter 11 case number 22-10367.

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