Two indicative bids have been made for East Coast Bakehouse which is currently in examinership, the High Court heard on Tuesday.
A total of 33 parties have expressed interest in investing in the biscuit producer since an examiner was appointed to the biscuit maker by the High Court in January amid cash pressure at the company.
[ Michael Carey’s East Coast Bakehouse enters interim examinership amid cash crunchOpens in new window ]
Restructuring expert Kieran Wallace of Interpath was appointed by Mr Justice Michael Quinn to act as examiner over the business, which was cofounded and run by former Enterprise Ireland (EI) chair Michael Carey.
Of the 33 interested parties, 15 agreed to sign non-disclosure agreements to continue in the process, but by the bid deadline of January 13th, 11 of those parties had withdrawn from the process.
RM Block
Of the remaining parties, two indicative bids have been made which were adjudged by the examiner to be in line with expectations.
The remaining interested investors will now be given the chance to “conduct confirmatory due diligence before submitting a final, fully-financed and binding offer”.
To facilitate the process, an extension of the examinership to the full 70-day time frame was sought by the examiner.
In an affidavit, Wallace said he was “hopeful that an extension of time will enable me to conclude a binding investment agreement which will allow me to formulate proposals for a scheme of arrangement”.
There were no objections from the notice parties and creditors, which include Enterprise Ireland, Upstream Working Capital Limited, and the Revenue Commissioners.
The biscuit company currently employs 78 people at a manufacturing facility in Drogheda, Co Louth and its operations will continue as normal during the examinership process.
The company’s current chief financial officer is set to leave the company at the end of February, following a notice period, Wallace said in a report read to the court. He noted that an internal replacement has already been identified.
Mr Justice Michael Quinn said that “very substantial progress on discussions with interested parties” had been made and granted the extension.
