A legal representative of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) says that Imperial Pacific International (IPI) facilitated the participation of the bidder for its casino assets, claiming the bidder is “closely related to the debtor”.
According to Marianas Variety, a hearing will be held before a bankruptcy judge on March 25th to consider the approval of the sale of IPIs assets to Team King Investment, “free and clear of all liens, claims, and encumbrances”.
Team King’s bid was selected in an auction on February 26th, with a $12.95 million cash purchase bid, as well as an option to acquire the casino license and assume certain IPI liabilities.
This comes after Loi Lam Sit was designated as the stalking horse bidder (a designation to encourage the attraction of other bidders). Loi Lam Sit would have paid $12.5 million for the purchase of IPI’s casino assets and the option to buy its casino license.
Attorney Brendan Layde, who represents the CNMI governor’s office, claims that both Loi Lam Sit and Team King Investment have close links to IPI and its principals, claiming that “none of these relationships were disclosed in the bid proposal submitted as part of the auction process”.
