Friday hearing to address possible Fountain sale
WILSON, N.C. — A hearing on the sale of Fountain Powerboats to FB Investments will be held on Friday, despite Fountain’s desire to postpone any sale, according to court documents.
The hearing will help determine whether Fountain becomes the property of its largest creditor or moves forward with the help of another investor.
An auction of Fountain’s assets took place as scheduled Monday, with FB Investments making the only offer — a credit bid of $8.75 million — but the sale isn’t final until it is approved by a bankruptcy court judge. FB has been Fountain’s largest secured creditor since it purchased the claim of Fountain’s previous creditor, Regions Bank, last month.
Fountain had asked the court to delay the auction because of a new offer from Liberty Associates, which Fountain said would allow it to continue operations and fund a reorganization plan.
Fountain said in court documents that in light of the new offer, a sale might no longer be in the best interest of its creditors and “the prospects for a traditional plan of reorganization, which may benefit unsecured creditors, should be fully explored.”
The delay was opposed by FB Investments, which in court documents called the motion “the last attempt of the Debtors’ founder, Reggie Fountain, to try to retain control of the company he stewarded into insolvency.”
Fountain’s motion was ultimately denied, paving the way for Friday’s hearing.
Prior to the hearing, the court has granted a request from FB requiring Reggie Fountain to provide information and documents related to his company’s debtor-in-possession financing, Fountain’s business relationship with Liberty, any plan of reorganization, and plans for the adequate protection of FB’s collateral.
Those and other matters will be discussed Friday in court.
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