BALTIMORE, MD – September 24, 2009 – Kwik Pik, LLC, (“Kwik Pik”) an affiliate of Lehigh Gas Corporation and other various parties were named the successful bidders of the Uni-Marts’ assets for a total of approximately $19.6 million plus assumption of certain of the Debtor’s liabilities in an auction managed by Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. (“Matrix”). The auction, which was held in Wilmington, DE on September 23rd, featured highly organized and competitive bidding that lasted nearly fifteen hours with over 200 participating bidders.
Kwik Pik’s Stalking Horse Bid, which was approved by the Delaware District of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this month, established $16.7 million purchase price for 207 Uni-Marts’ assets of which $10.0 million was allocated to assets in Ohio and $6.7 million was allocated to assets in Pennsylvania and New York. The final purchase price for the assets of approximately $19.6 million represents a 17% improvement to the Stalking Horse Bid. Kwik Pik won the auction for the Ohio assets for $10.0 million, while Kwik Pik and twenty-five other successful bidders combined to push the value for the Pennsylvania assets to $9.6 million, which represents an improvement of 43%. In addition to the cash proceeds successful bidders are assuming a substantial portion of the debtor’s liabilities, which further improves the value to the Debtor’s estate.
Tom Kelso, managing director and principal of Matrix, commented, “We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Debtor to deliver maximum value for the assets to Uni-Marts’ creditors. We developed and executed a customized sales process that covered over 200 assets across three states that was successful in selling every asset and providing a very substantial return to the creditors.” The sales are subject to the approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and are expected to close during the middle of November.