EYP Group closes $70.4 million sale of assets to Page Southerland

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., July 1 – EYP Group Holdings, Inc. closed the sale of its assets to winning bidder Page Southerland Page, Inc., according to a notice filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The purchase price is $70.4 million plus some assumed liabilities.

Stalking horse bidder and senior secured lender Ault Alliance, Inc., a private equity firm owned by BitNile Holdings, Inc., formerly known as Ault Global Holdings, Inc., was named backup bidder, as previously reported.

The company was ordered to qualify Page’s bid after a request was made by the official committee of unsecured creditors to do so.

EYP had previously canceled an auction for the assets, saying it had not received any other qualified bids.

EYP said in the cancellation notice that it would seek court approval to sell the assets to the Ault Alliance, which proposed a purchase price of $67.7 million, including 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. The court agreed to extend the auction, and Page agreed to increase its bid to $5 million above the value of the stalking horse bid.

Page 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 have objected to the sale if the stalking horse was selected as winning bidder.

Bid protections under the stalking horse agreement included a $2 million breakup fee and an expense reimbursement of up to $900,000.

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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