Kwik Pik LLC, an affiliate of Lehigh Gas Corp., has been selected as the stalking horse bidder in the Uni-Marts bankruptcy asset sale.

 

A stalking-horse bidder is an interested buyer that is chosen by a bankrupt company out of a pool of potential bidders to make the initial bid on the bankrupt company’s assets.

 

A motion to approve the selection has been filed in the Delaware District of The U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and a hearing on the motion is scheduled for Sept. 3. The last date for submitting bids has been extended to Sept.16, with a live auction scheduled for Sept. 23.

 

The Kwik Pik agreement puts the purchase price for the Ohio assets at $10 million and the assets located in Pennsylvania and New York at $6.7 million. According to sale procedures in the case, bidders can bid on the entire company or on groups of assets or on individual stores. Under the agreement, about 70 of the assets located in Pennsylvania and New York will be offered to individual store buyers, provided offers meet certain value requirements without any “all or none” restrictions.

 

“The Kwik Pik Agreement provides the debtor with a high degree of flexibility that provides the opportunity to truly maximize the value of the assets in an auction process where single assets and smaller groups of assets are available for sale,” said Tom Kelso, a managing director of Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. Asset Purchase Agreements for single assets and smaller groups of assets are also available for prospective buyers through Matrix, which is handling the auction.

 

Only qualified bidders who have met the bid requirements as they are defined in the court approved auction procedures and submitted offers by the bid deadline of Sept. 16, will be invited to attend the auction on Sept. 23.