Auction to allow buyers to cherrypick individual IPs
Buyers are likely to be very interested in the upcoming RTS Company of Heroes 2
On January 22, an auction will be held that allows interested bidders to bid on specific THQ assets. This means any potential buyers have a fair chance at bidding on THQ’s individuals IPs, which the company was trying to avoid by being sold to Clearlake Capital.
The Distressed Debt Investing blog posted an update on THQ’s bankruptcy hearing Tuesday.
After the initial auction, a sale hearing will be held on January 25 for THQ as an entity. Any interested party would need to outbid Clearlake’s offer.
Previously, Clearlake Capital offered $60m for THQ’s assets that were currently in development. However, THQ creditors felt that the sale didn’t give other potentially interested buyers enough time to make purchases, and asked to extend the bidding deadline.
Presiding judge over the THQ bankruptcy hearing Judge Mary F. Walrath agreed, and recently denied THQ permission for a bankruptcy sale, saying THQ “did not even put out to the public that it was for sale until potential buyers signed non-disclosure agreements.”
Walrath said, “About 10 potential buyers contacted THQ after finding out about the sale from its bankruptcy filing, evidence the marketing isn’t an adequate substitute for a sales process in bankruptcy.”
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