The traffic safety firm, Highway Technologies Inc. got the nod from a Delaware bankruptcy judge to sell two of its branches. The sell will total over $8 million so that the bankrupt company can pay back some of its debt.
The company had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Judge said that he would give the go ahead on the deals to sell the two locations once the attorneys for Highway Technologies performed revisions on the documents related to the sales to indicate that a number of issues had been resolved. The judge said that he would await the submission of the orders and the counsel certification.
These transactions are the latest moves by the company to liquidate its assets after it had to quickly shut down in May. The company will be selling off its Minnesota branch to SSJS Inc. and West Holding Co. LLC will buy its Montana branch.
SSJS has been the stalking horse for the Minnesota branch. They issued a bid of $2.5 million on the property. However, a rival bid more, pushing the price to $5.6 million.
The sale for the Montana branch was nearly $2.8 million.
The proposals to sell had been countered by objections from construction and logistics firms, insurance companies, and many who were concerned that the motion to sell didn’t include information about what would happen to property that the company had leased from them. They were wondering if the land would follow the transactions or what would happen to existing projects that the company had entered performance bonds.
All of the objections were able to be resolved before the hearing.
When the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in May, they said they hoped to sell off their assets or let go some of its branches. They own 32 branches in 13 states.
The committee of unsecured creditors had many issues with the strategy and they made a motion to have the case converted to Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. In their argument, they said the cost of individual sales would consume the assets and that the company did not need the benefits of Chapter 11 since it was no longer in operation and had let go most of its staff.
The motion is currently pending, but the attorneys for the committee stated in court that the unsecured creditors supported the sale of the Minnesota and Montana properties.
Prior to the bankruptcy filing, Highway Technologies halted its operations and laid off 90 percent of its employees. It left some of its equipment on roadway projects that were in progress. The equipment included barriers, rails, cones, signs, and lights.
To get all of the equipment off of the road, the judge approved a bid for the company to try to sel off the equipment, but capped the sales at $200,000.
The company has been providing traffic safety and management services for nearly 3 decades before this bankruptcy filing, working on some rather high-profile events, such as the Republican and Democratic national convictions, Lollapalooza, and the Super Bowl. They also carried out public works projects and highway construction projects.