After originally failing to obtain an approval for its quick bankruptcy sale, THQ and all involved parties have come to a new agreement. According to Distressed Debt Investing, an auction to sell all of THQ's assets "title by title" will tae place on January 22, 2013.
Last month THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking 30 days for approval of a sale with a deadline of January 15, 2013. However, creditors complained this was an insufficient window and apparently a judge agreed, ruling that THQ's “efforts to market the company for sale before bankruptcy weren’t sufficient" to allow the "aggressive sale process.”
“I have problems concluding that the pre-petition sale process was fulsome,” Walrath said, adding that THQ “did not even put out to the public that it was for sale.” Buyers instead found out about the sale via THQ’s bankruptcy filing, which Walrath said “isn’t an adequate substitute for a sales process in bankruptcy," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath originally ruled according to Bloomberg.
THQ's creditors argued that the company should be selling its properties one-by-one as opposed to selling everything as a single package. According to Walrath, “the individual titles may have substantial value” and requiring interested parties to buy the whole company “may depress bids.”
Alas, the new agreement will allow for just that. Come January 22, 2013 we should have a better idea of who will own the rights to THQ's assets.
