
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Zink investor bids for Polaroid name and IP
As part of the company’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Polaroid Holding Co. today announced that it has entered into a “stalking horse” asset purchase agreement with PHC Acquisitions LLC, an affiliate of Genii Capital SA, a Luxembourg-based private equity firm and an investor in Polaroid spinout Zink Imaging Inc. of Bedford.
Under the terms of the agreement, the bidder — including PHC Acquisitions and Genii — would acquire certain of the company’s assets including, but not limited to, all of Polaroid’s intellectual property rights and the “Polaroid” name and brand.
As part of the agreement, Polaroid Holding Co. of Waltham is filing motions for orders granting authority to sell certain assets to PHC Acquisitions, establishing bidding procedures, designating PHC Acquisitions as the stalking horse bidder and setting a hearing date on the sale of the assets. As a result, the PHC Acquisition Group will have first bidding rights to the assets.
Polaroid CEO Mary Jeffries said in a statement entering into the agreement marks progress in Polaroid’s financial restructuring and provides a key milestone on the path out of bankruptcy protection.
With bankruptcies and restructuring on the rise, such deals are not uncommon, according to Peter Alternative, a partner at Mirus Capital Advisors, which has a special situations group that handles such bankruptcy and restructuring deals.
“In 2009 there are going to be a lot of opportunities to buy assets on the cheap because companies are overleveraged and can’t refinance,” Alternative said.
Zink, a maker of thermal printing products for portable devices such as cell phones, was spun out of Polaroid in 2005, but has worked closely with the company since. At the most recent Consumer Electronics Show, Zink Polaroid unveiled a new digital camera integrated with Zink’s printing technology.
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