A bankruptcy court judge has postponed considering Maxim Crane Works’ prenegotiated reorganization plan and has ordered the crane rental company to market its assets for sale.
Judge M. Bruce McCullough of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh has directed unsecured creditors to work with Maxim to come up with a sale process. The move led former CEO Albert Bove and Maxim rival AmQuip Corp. to withdraw their recently filed motion seeking to terminate Maxim’s exclusivity so they could file their own reorganization plan. Bove and AmQuip, the fifth-largest crane rental company in the U.S., proposed a plan that called for them to become a stalking horse bidder with an offer of $273 million.
“AmQuip is still very interested in pursuing a purchase,” said Michael Kaminski, an attorney representing Bove and AmQuip.
Under Maxim’s prepackaged agreement, the crane rental company’s secured lenders proposed cutting $700 million in debt by more than half in return for a majority stake in the reorganized company.
A hearing on the status of the sale process is set for today. Maxim filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection June 14 in Pittsburgh after becoming overleveraged because of 11 acquisitions the company made between 1999 and 2001.
Maxim, the nation’s largest crane rental company, is No. 8 on the RER 100.
