PORTLAND, Maine — The live auction for the assets of the bankrupt Lincoln Paper and Tissue Mill has been pushed back by more than a week from its original time on Tuesday.
The bankruptcy court last week extended the deadline for submitting qualified bids to Nov. 17, with the auction to take place Nov. 19, at 10 a.m. at the offices of law firm Bernstein Shur in Portland.
The bidding will still start at $5.3 million for the mill assets, led by the starting bidder, or stalking horse bidder, LP Acquisitions, a subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based investor Reich Brothers.
The mill has continued to operate during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
While the two companies competing to serve as the stalking horse bidder for the mill focus on liquidating industrial assets, the mill’s owners have said they expect an active auction with some parties interested in continuing to operate the mill.
The United Steelworkers union had raised concerns about the initial Nov. 10 auction date, seeking more time for other parties to kick the tires on the mill.
Mill officials argued that would require the bankruptcy estate to delve further into its line of credit and that its solicitation of stalking horse bids from 169 different companies was ample notice to any interested parties.
Ultimately, 36 entities signed nondisclosure agreements in order to review confidential information about the mill’s operations.