The proposed $10.5 million sale of the Old Town pulp mill cleared one obstacle this week in a move that could reopen the facility and restore about 180 jobs. But the mill’s creditors continue to raise concerns about the transaction.
The Bangor Daily News reported that a U.S. Bankruptcy court’s ruling on Wednesday calls for Wisconsin-based Expera Specialty Solutions, the mill’s proposed buyer, to pay $1.5 million for facility maintenance of the Old Town Fuel & Fiber Fuel pulp mill ahead of the proposed sale.
The court is expected on Dec. 5 to rule on final approval of the $10.5 million sales agreement between Expera, which runs four specialty paper mills in Wisconsin, and New York-based equity firm Patriarch Partners, the mill’s current owner.
Some of the mill’s unsecured creditors have raised concerns that the deal only calls for a $300,000 “carve-out” to the creditors, a small fraction of the more than $9.6 million in debt they have claimed, the BDN noted.
Pasquale “Pat” J. Perrino, the mill’s bankruptcy trustee, said $300,000 was too low and indicated that he would only agree to a higher carve-out to the mill’s creditors.
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