A trustee for the bankrupt Great Northern Paper company said he hopes to receive letters of interest for the shuttered East Millinocket mill by the end of this week as the facility’s overseers aim to tap a $175,000 fund to preserve the facility for a potential buyer.
Randy Creswell, an attorney for trustee Pasquale “Pat” J. Perrino Jr., said during a hearing Tuesday that he hopes to have two letters of interest for the mill by the end of the week. Those letters could then be used as “stalking horse” — or starting bids — to sell the operation to an entity interested in keeping it functioning as a mill.
“We’ve worked with the state of Maine, and a number of folks have had interest in the mill,” Creswell said.
In the meantime, how the trustee will pay to continue basic maintenance at the mill remains unclear as the two investors getting state and federal credits for putting more than $40 million into the mill’s restart have laid claim to about $175,000 the bankrupt mill has from a returned attorney’s retainer fee and returned insurance premiums.
During an emergency hearing on Tuesday in Bangor, the parties agreed to postpone arguments over whether the Enhanced Capital New Market Development Fund X LLC and Stonehenge Community Development have a secured claim to the company’s $175,000 in cash.
The parties postponed that discussion in the interest of using the funds to pay outstanding wages to the skeleton crew of about five people responsible for the mill and an on-site wastewater treatment plant that serves about 800 homes in East Millinocket.
The agreement Tuesday will deliver about $18,700 from that fund to five regular employees and others for services after the bankruptcy, for the period from the time of the bankruptcy filing on Sept. 22 through Oct. 16. Creswell said the need to pay those workers had reached a “critical point” on Friday, and he previously thought the $175,000 would be fully available to the trustee to pay for ongoing costs.
Creswell said that trustee is working with Stonehenge Community Development and Enhanced Capital New Market Development Fund X LLC on a financing plan to pay for the continued maintenance of the mill until a new buyer is found or the mill’s assets are liquidated. Creswell said the trustee’s focus remains finding a new buyer to operate the mill.
“The ultimate goal is to sell this mill — even though it’s in Chapter 7 — as a going concern,” Creswell said.
The hearing Tuesday was the first in a Maine court since the bankruptcy case was transferred from Delaware. The court did not issue any rulings on the claims that the town of East Millinocket may have against the company for back taxes it is owed.