General Maritime would sell assets if plan fails, deadlines are missed

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Nov. 28 - General Maritime Corp. requested court approval to sell substantially all of its assets if a trigger event occurs under its debtor-in-possession credit agreement, according to a Nov. 23 hearing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The company said the DIP agreement requires General Maritime to file the motion for approval of the sale and related bidding procedures.

General Maritime said the sale motion covers only a scenario under which a plan of reorganization based on a proposed $175 million equity commitment agreement is not confirmed.

"The procedures sought to be approved here will be implemented only in the event that the plan is derailed and the debtors are otherwise unable to achieve the lenders' milestones," the company said in the sale motion.

If a trigger event occurs, the company said it would either immediately enter into an asset purchase agreement providing for the credit bid of the claims of its pre-bankruptcy senior lenders and DIP financing lenders or enter into a stalking horse agreement with an alternative bidder within 10 days of the trigger event.

Any alternative stalking horse bid must provide for payment in full of the facilities.

If the senior lenders are not the high bidder for the assets at auction, General Maritime will pay them a break-up fee of 1% of the purchase price and reimburse their bid negotiation-related expenses.

The bidding deadline would be noon ET 70 days after the trigger event. Minimum bids must be for at least $500,000 more in cash than the stalking horse bid, plus the amount of the break-up fee and expense reimbursement.

All bids must include a 10% deposit.

A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15.

General Maritime is a New York-based provider of international seaborne crude oil transportation services. The company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 17. The Chapter 11 case number is 11-15285.

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