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LMC resets its bid deadline for today

LORDSTOWN — Lordstown Motors Corp. has for the third time pushed back the deadline for interested parties to bid on its assets, according to a notice filed in the troubled electric-vehicle company’s Chapter 11 case.

The new deadline is 5 p.m. today, which also is when the company set the deadline to notify all qualified bidders of the highest or otherwise best qualified bid, or “otherwise prior to the auction,” which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday, the filing made Tuesday evening states.

The previous bid deadlines were Sept. 22 and Sept. 18. The original bid deadline approved in August by Mary F. Walrath, the Delaware U.S. bankruptcy court judge overseeing the case, was Sept. 8.

The company is allowed to modify dates in its schedule of bidding and auction procedures under the same August judge’s order.

According to testimony during a hearing Aug. 28 by Edward Hightower, Lordstown Motors president, the company’s assets include the battery pack module and hub motor lines for the company’s first vehicle, the battery-powered Endurance pickup truck.

Other assets included the completed Endurance program, which includes full-vehicle certifications; the intellectual property associated with the vehicle; and hard tools the company acquired to produce the truck, is what is up for sale in bankruptcy. A buyer would also have access to employees who brought the truck into production, Hightower said then.

An attorney for Lordstown Motors said during an Aug. 3 hearing that 13 parties had showed an interest in acquiring all or some of the company’s assets.

On Aug. 3, Thomas E. Lauria, an attorney with White & Case LLP, the lead firm representing Lordstown Motors, said 13 parties showed an interest in acquiring all or some of the company’s assets.

Four were to acquire all or most of Lordstown Motors’ assets as a going concern; four were for different components of the company’s assets; and five were from liquidators interested in buying some or all of the assets for either an upfront cash fee or for a fee and shared participation in proceeds of their sale.

A “going concern” is an accounting term used to describe a business that is expected to remain in operation.

It appears a sale hearing is still scheduled for Oct. 18 and a sale closing for Oct. 31. Tuesday’s motion did not address those key dates.

Another key date that has passed was Aug. 24, the deadline for a stalking horse bidder to come forward. None did.

A stalking horse bid is the initial bid for a company’s assets. The stalking horse bidder sets the low end of the purchase price.

Lordstown Motors filed for Chapter 11 protection June 27.

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