VA Radio: 17 Potential Bidders Emerge For F-L-S

Seventeen potential bidders have expressed interest in purchasing the assets of The Free Lance–Star Publishing Co., CEO and Publisher Nicholas J. Cadwallender said during a hearing Friday in the media company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, according to fredericksburg.com.

Many of the potential bidders have signed nondisclosure agreements, Cadwallender said, and some have a number of people poring over the company’s financial information to determine an appropriate bid.

“People are very interested in the assets,” he said, which include the newspaper, Fredericksburg.com, Freelancestar.com, WFLS, WVBX, WWUZ, WNTX, Print Innovators, several real-estate properties in the city and additional digital products.

Cadwallender didn’t identify any potential bidders, which are primarily working through the company’s financial adviser, Suzanne Roski of Protiviti Inc.’s Richmond office.

WFLS  93.3 FM (50Kw) 54dBu

The formal bidding process has not yet started in the case, which the FLS filed Jan. 23. A hearing is scheduled in Richmond federal court this coming week to work out the bidding procedures.

One key factor in how the bidding plays out will be how much of a credit bid the FLS’ secured creditor, New York-based Sandton Capital Partners, will be able to submit during the auction process.

Credit bids are frequently used in bankruptcy court. They typically allow secured lenders to bid the amount they are owed without putting up any additional cash.

Sandton last summer purchased a loan from BB&T that had been made to the FLS in 2007 to build Print Innovators, a state-of-the-art commercial printing plant on Belman Road in Fredericksburg. Sandton then advised the FLS to file for bankruptcy.

The loan balance is now about $38 million. Most of the FLS’ assets and earnings were pledged as collateral for the loan.

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