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Last updated on Tuesday, April 15, 2014
(DELAWARE) - Indiana Commercial Finance, is now in line to purchase Indiana Limestone Company after offering $26 million for the company.
Organizers canceled Indiana Limestone Co. bankruptcy auction planned for Monday after only one firm lined up to bid for the company's assets.
Indiana Finance made a credit bid, offering to forgive debt, instead of putting up cash.
The company will seek court approval to sell the assets to the auction winner at an April 16 hearing.
Indiana Commercial Finance bought a large portion of the limestone quarrier and fabricator's debt in January after Indiana Limestone Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the District of Delaware in February.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware had issued orders outlining a procedure for the troubled southern Indiana company sale.
Indiana Limestone Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing a debt load of $50 million to $100 million and dozens of creditors.
The company's layoff notice to the state says workers will lose their jobs over two weeks between April 28 and May 11. The company will layoff its entire 166-person workforce in Bloomington and Oolitic.
What exactly will happen in and after that time isn't yet clear. Even Indiana Limestone's president, Duffe Elkins isn't sure of his future.
The Indinanapolis Business Journal reports that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi granted Victor Oolitic Stone Co., which owns the company with roots dating back more than 110 years, approval of guidelines governing the sale process. According to court documents filed March 13 in Wilmington, Del.,the company also obtained approval to borrow as much as $3.5 million from Indiana Finance.
Indiana Limestone owns 10 quarries spanning more than 4,000 acres and containing more than 100 years of limestone reserves, making it the "largest dimensional Indiana limestone quarries and fabricators in North America," according to court documents.
The company bought the original Victor Oolitic Stone, founded in 1897, in a 2009 bankruptcy sale, according to court filings. The company then bought Indiana Limestone, which was formed in 1924 through the merger of 24 corporations, in 2010 to create the company as it is now.
Indiana Limestone's products have been used to construct some of the most famous works of architecture in the U.S., including the Empire State Building, the Pentagon and 35 of the 50 state capitol buildings, according to its website.
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