DATAPLAY GETS COMPETITIVE BID FOR ASSETS
Landlord Flatirons North, unable to reach agreement on lease for DataPlay’s former hq with prospective buyer of its assets, has made $1.3 million purchase offer of its own. William Reynolds, senior executive at Flatirons, filed papers with U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Denver, proposing to buy DataPlay’s assets, excluding its technology portfolio.
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Flatirons, which leased 100,000-sq.-ft. spread across 2 buildings to DataPlay, had been negotiating with company for exchange of personal property in return for allowing it to stay, but talks broke down after DPHI filed bid for assets, David Kuosman, attorney for Flatirons, told Rocky Mountain News. DataPlay, which counted iRiver, Samsung and Toshiba among its licensees, filed for bankruptcy protection in Oct. after failing to secure $50 million in additional funding.
DPHI, formed last fall as partnership of Almon Ventures and Hexagon Investments, filed $1.5 million offer for DataPlay assets in Dec. that would pay off lender Silicon Valley Bank and tax lien filed by Boulder County, Colo. Deal also would offer 8% equity stake in new company to investors, who provided $15 million bridge loan last fall. In court documents, Reynolds said Flatirons had better offer because it proposed to lease intellectual property for another buyer. Flatirons bid also would cover unpaid rent that was accruing at rate of $192,413 per month. Competing offer still must obtain approvals from DataPlay’s estate, Silicon Valley Bank and junior secured noteholders of bridge loan. DataPlay Chmn. David Davies said he planned to meet with Flatirons and hearing on motion to approve sale of company to DPHI was scheduled for Jan. 21. “I have a responsibility to act in a fiduciary capacity,” Davies told Rocky Mountain News. “My role is to get the best deal for creditors.”
DPHI plans to restart scaled-down version of company that once had more than 200 employees focused on licensing its disc drive technology. Almon Ventures Gen. Mgr. William Almon Jr. said DPHI was negotiating with several other landlords for office space, but considered office equipment and furniture key to any agreement. “We continue to look forward to the opportunity to restart DataPlay and provide employment and business opportunities to former employees and partner/suppliers of DataPlay,” Almon said in e-mail response to our questions. DPHI “remains confident” it can “create superior value and return” for junior secured creditors by operating company with new management, he said. Almon said there were “many facilities available” in Boulder County at “historically low rental rates” that could serve as company’s hq. “We'd be foolish not to negotiate the best possible rates we can,” he said.