And Then There Was One

That is the number of bidders for Eclipse, prompting the bankruptcy court to cancel last week’s auction for the Eclipse Aviation assets, in favor of the planned takeover by ETIRC. The sale must still be approved by the bankruptcy court which had scheduled a hearing at press time last Friday. Creditors gathered to consider competing bids. The Ad Hoc Committee of Senior Secured Note Holders and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors  concluded there were no qualifying bids besides that of ETIRC, according to Eclipse Attorney Dan Guyder. Related Story 
Eclipse Chair Roel Pieper was the lone qualified bidder for the assets and his company, ETIRC proposed to offer senior secured creditors 15 percent equity and pay $188 million including $160 million in cash and $28 million in notes (roughly 20 cents on the dollar) for the ailing Very Light Jet manufacturer which filed for Chapter 11 last November with over $1 billion in liabilities. The $28 million will come from ETIRC affiliate EclipseJet Aviation International – its European sales arm – which will also offer the equity stakes.
ETIRC plans to change the name after conclusion of the business wind-down for Eclipse which is expected to cost $7.5 million.
The Ad Hoc Customer Committee is still negotiating for the new owner to honor the company’s obligations to customers but a spokesperson said last week that it is unlikely all provisions of current contracts will remain intact.
The Associated Press quoted the purchase agreement filed with the court, reporting that a $205 million loan from the Russian Federation Bank for Develop and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) paid for part of the acquisition while up to $75 million comes from Spain's AirLyper Investment Partners, according to the purchase agreement filed with the court. The Russian money was supposed to go for the construction of a Russian assembly plant, scheduled for completion in 2010 which Pieper plans to use to service the European/Russian market. He sees the Albuquerque facility as serving the U.S., China and India.