Eclipse Auction Draws No New Qualified Bids

Eclipse Auction Draws No New Qualified Bids

Jan 14, 2009 (Aviation Week)
As the deadline for filing intentions to bid for the assets of insolvent Eclipse Aviation in US Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, expired at close of business on Tuesday, January 13th, EclipseJet Aviation International, a subsidiary of Roel Pieper's Luxembourg-based ETIRC, remained the sole bidder.
In the absence of qualified competitive bidders, US Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath, who is handling the Eclipse case, is due to hear motions to sell Eclipse's assets to EclipseJet on Friday, January 16th.
ETIRC currently is Eclipse Aviation's largest shareholder. Pieper, acting as president of Eclipse since its Board of Directors axed company founder Vern Raburn in late July 2008, knows more about its finances and failed relationships with vendors and suppliers than anyone now associated with the firm. For an offering of $28-million in cash, plus $160-million in new equity notes, Pieper now expects that his EclipseJet Aviation subsidiary will be the new owner of Eclipse in less than one week.

The European Technology and Investment Research Center (ETIRC). In the world of Investment and Development Banking, ETIRC is a reliable and trusted Gateway into Russia and the CIS, providing a strong economical, technical and political network. ETIRC is also active in Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Israel.

Mr. Pieper was Senior Vice President of Strategy at Philips N.V. from 1998-1999. Prior to that, he was the President and CEO of Tandem Computers Inc., the largest fault-tolerant computer vendor with revenues in excess of $2 billion in 1995, backed by Kleiner Perkins. While at Tandem, he was responsible for a turnaround initiative that resulted in a trade sale to Compaq Computer. Mr. Pieper began his software career at Software AG where he spent 10 years in the US and Germany during which time he became Chief Technology Officer of the company. Software AG is considered one of the earliest software companies in Europe and at one time was the second largest global software company


January 13, 2009
Eclipse Auction Cancelled (Source AP)
The Associated Press is reporting that a public auction to sell the assets of Eclipse Aviation Wednesday has been cancelled for lack of qualified competing bidders. According to AP's story, that will pave the way for EclipseJet Aviation, owned by current Eclipse Chairman Roel Pieper, to pick up the company for roughly 20 cents on the dollar. ETIRC is proposing to pay $188 million ($28 million cash, $160 million in new notes) and offer 15-percent equity to senior secured creditors. Eclipse's total liability was estimated at more than $1 billion when it filed for Chapter 11 protection in late November.
It was rumored that there were at least two competing bids for Eclipse but if there were other bids they were not considered to be qualified. Two committees of secured creditors and a committee of unsecured creditors who reviewed the bid(s) determined that there were no qualified bids, Eclipse lawyer Dan Guyder told the AP.