Monday, April 27, 2009
NAVISTAR TO BUY MONACO
From RVBUSINESS:
Even though Monaco Coach Corp. has struck a deal to sell its major assets to a subsidiary of Navistar International for $52 million, the Coburg, Ore.-based RV maker is racing to close the deal before it runs out of money and creditors run out of patience, according to The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.
At a hearing Friday (April 24) in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, an attorney for Monaco said the company had signed an asset purchase agreement with Workhorse International Holding Co., a Navistar subsidiary. The company’s main secured lenders - Bank of America and Ableco - have agreed to provide it with at least one more week of operating cash while Monaco officials try to “get them comfortable” with what they would be paid in the sale, said Robert Orgel, one of Monaco’s bankruptcy attorneys.
“How much they are to be paid is the key issue,” Orgel said. “The amount it takes to satisfy them may well be harder to achieve the longer it takes us to close a sale because we are incurring expenses every day and the ability to sell assets is limited.”
When it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 5, Monaco owed Bank of America $38 million and Ableco $37 million. In a Chapter 11 case, a financially stressed company is given protection from creditors while it reorganizes its finances.
Orgel asked Judge Kevin Carey for an expedited schedule so the company could be put up for auction and the deal could be consummated by June 1. If the sale doesn’t close by then, creditors could move to liquidate Monaco.
But an attorney for the committee for unsecured creditors, Donald Detweiler, told the judge that the sale appears to benefit only the two lenders. Liquidation of Monaco’s assets or some other alternative may provide a better return to unsecured creditors, he said.
“There may be a better way to see value than what’s being proposed here,” he said.
Carey said he expects any reorganization plan to provide some value for unsecured creditors.
“The court can’t create value when value isn’t there, but I want a fair shot at unsecured creditors getting there,” he said.
Unsecured creditors are those that don’t have any legal claim on a company’s land, buildings or equipment. They get paid only after creditors with secured positions, often banks, get paid. If they get paid, unsecured creditors are likely to get something less than the total amount they’re owed. The company has thousands of unsecured creditors.
In a court filing, Monaco attorneys argued that an asset sale to a buyer that would operate the RV maker as a going business would provide the most benefit to everyone concerned. Doing so would “create direct value for creditors, saving 2,000 or more jobs in communities in Oregon and Indiana … and creating ongoing value and revenue for a large number of (Monaco) vendors, dealers and other creditors.”
It’s not clear from the company’s court filings how many people would be employed in Coburg and Indiana if the factory were to resume production.
Navistar, a massive Illinois corporation that builds diesel engines, school buses, heavy trucks and military vehicles, announced a month ago that it had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to buy Monaco’s core assets for up to $50 million. On Wednesday (April 22), Monaco signed an asset purchase agreement with Workhorse, a Navistar subsidiary serving as a “stalking horse” purchaser. In bankruptcy cases, a stalking horse bid sets a threshold price so that other potential bidders can’t low-ball the purchase price.
Judge Carey will conduct another hearing this week on bid procedures and other issues, including whether the secured creditors are willing to extend additional operating credit to Monaco while the sale moves forward. A sales auction would be conducted in mid-May, followed by another hearing May 22 at which Monaco would be seeking court approval for a sale and creditors could seek to block it.
Under the terms of the deal, Navistar would obtain certain manufacturing facilities located in Indiana and Oregon. In addition, Navistar will acquire all brands, intellectual property, inventories and equipment relating to Monaco’s motorized and towable recreational vehicle segments.
The deal would not include Monaco’s resort properties, which the company is attempting to auction separately. Nor would it include its Roadmaster Cargo Trailer business and several industrial properties.
“We are excited to move forward with the tremendous resources of Navistar supporting our great products,” Monaco CEO Kay Toolson said. “Everyone at the company is ready and committed to again build the highest quality RVs in the industry, offer the best customer support and bring jobs back into the communities in which we operate. We appreciate the patience of our employees, dealers, suppliers and RV owners as we navigated through this challenging environment.”
The company said it appears that no proceeds from the sale would be available for distribution to shareholders.
Even though Monaco Coach Corp. has struck a deal to sell its major assets to a subsidiary of Navistar International for $52 million, the Coburg, Ore.-based RV maker is racing to close the deal before it runs out of money and creditors run out of patience, according to The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.
At a hearing Friday (April 24) in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, an attorney for Monaco said the company had signed an asset purchase agreement with Workhorse International Holding Co., a Navistar subsidiary. The company’s main secured lenders - Bank of America and Ableco - have agreed to provide it with at least one more week of operating cash while Monaco officials try to “get them comfortable” with what they would be paid in the sale, said Robert Orgel, one of Monaco’s bankruptcy attorneys.
“How much they are to be paid is the key issue,” Orgel said. “The amount it takes to satisfy them may well be harder to achieve the longer it takes us to close a sale because we are incurring expenses every day and the ability to sell assets is limited.”
When it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 5, Monaco owed Bank of America $38 million and Ableco $37 million. In a Chapter 11 case, a financially stressed company is given protection from creditors while it reorganizes its finances.
Orgel asked Judge Kevin Carey for an expedited schedule so the company could be put up for auction and the deal could be consummated by June 1. If the sale doesn’t close by then, creditors could move to liquidate Monaco.
But an attorney for the committee for unsecured creditors, Donald Detweiler, told the judge that the sale appears to benefit only the two lenders. Liquidation of Monaco’s assets or some other alternative may provide a better return to unsecured creditors, he said.
“There may be a better way to see value than what’s being proposed here,” he said.
Carey said he expects any reorganization plan to provide some value for unsecured creditors.
“The court can’t create value when value isn’t there, but I want a fair shot at unsecured creditors getting there,” he said.
Unsecured creditors are those that don’t have any legal claim on a company’s land, buildings or equipment. They get paid only after creditors with secured positions, often banks, get paid. If they get paid, unsecured creditors are likely to get something less than the total amount they’re owed. The company has thousands of unsecured creditors.
In a court filing, Monaco attorneys argued that an asset sale to a buyer that would operate the RV maker as a going business would provide the most benefit to everyone concerned. Doing so would “create direct value for creditors, saving 2,000 or more jobs in communities in Oregon and Indiana … and creating ongoing value and revenue for a large number of (Monaco) vendors, dealers and other creditors.”
It’s not clear from the company’s court filings how many people would be employed in Coburg and Indiana if the factory were to resume production.
Navistar, a massive Illinois corporation that builds diesel engines, school buses, heavy trucks and military vehicles, announced a month ago that it had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to buy Monaco’s core assets for up to $50 million. On Wednesday (April 22), Monaco signed an asset purchase agreement with Workhorse, a Navistar subsidiary serving as a “stalking horse” purchaser. In bankruptcy cases, a stalking horse bid sets a threshold price so that other potential bidders can’t low-ball the purchase price.
Judge Carey will conduct another hearing this week on bid procedures and other issues, including whether the secured creditors are willing to extend additional operating credit to Monaco while the sale moves forward. A sales auction would be conducted in mid-May, followed by another hearing May 22 at which Monaco would be seeking court approval for a sale and creditors could seek to block it.
Under the terms of the deal, Navistar would obtain certain manufacturing facilities located in Indiana and Oregon. In addition, Navistar will acquire all brands, intellectual property, inventories and equipment relating to Monaco’s motorized and towable recreational vehicle segments.
The deal would not include Monaco’s resort properties, which the company is attempting to auction separately. Nor would it include its Roadmaster Cargo Trailer business and several industrial properties.
“We are excited to move forward with the tremendous resources of Navistar supporting our great products,” Monaco CEO Kay Toolson said. “Everyone at the company is ready and committed to again build the highest quality RVs in the industry, offer the best customer support and bring jobs back into the communities in which we operate. We appreciate the patience of our employees, dealers, suppliers and RV owners as we navigated through this challenging environment.”
The company said it appears that no proceeds from the sale would be available for distribution to shareholders.
