Dec. 21, 2008 — Citing a soft economy and other factors, bankruptcy trustee Stan Springel has postponed this week's scheduled auction of Vitelco telephone and Innovative Cable TV and plans to add a "stalking horse" bidder to the process.
The two companies are subsidiaries of ICC, which is in the midst of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. (See: "Trustee Briefs PSC on Sale of ICC Companies.") They are the former properties of St. Croix businessman Jeffrey Prosser, who is in the midst of Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings.
"This entire process is taking place against the backdrop of deteriorating worldwide economic and credit conditions and, until last week, the regulatory risk posed by the pending PSC rate investigation," wrote Springel's attorneys in a brief filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
The complexity of the sale, which also includes local television channel TV2 and the company's Internet and cellular phone division, was also a factor, according to the brief.
The trustee, along with financial advisors Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin Capital, believe the PSC's recent decision not to lower telephone rates may increase buyer interest and the price. (See: "PSC Accepts Examiner's Recommendation to Not Change Vitelco Rates.")
Springel and his advisors are in the midst of negotiations to select a "stalking horse" bidder. A stalking horse in this context is a published first bid, setting a minimum bar for the sale. The stalking horse is paid a fee and the subsequent bids are secret as usual.
The brief was filed Thursday, prior to a hearing in Pittsburgh, Penn. this Friday before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Judith Fitzgerald. The trustee wants to have a hearing to approve the sale in the first week of Feb. 2009.
Prosser's former properties are being sold in three groups. The Virgin Islands Daily News, a free-standing company, was sold first, in early May for $5.25 million to a Pennsylvania-based media company.
Prosser's cable TV operations on the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, as well as other cable operations in eastern France, were sold Dec. 5. Fitzgerald gave court approval to the sale at Friday's hearing. Vitelco, Innovative Cable TV and their affiliated Virgin Islands cellular and Internet services are the last, most valuable group to be sold.
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