THE LATEST CC AUCTION NEWS

[Coloradobus]

Country Coach Inc. Asset Auction Set for Feb. 4

RVBUSINESS.COM


Lawyers for Country Coach Inc., its landlord and the government cleared the way Tuesday (Jan. 26) for the defunct RV maker’s assets to be sold at auction next week.

The Junction City, Ore., company is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning everything it owns — from office furniture to industrial equipment as well as motor coaches — must be sold off to pay creditors, according to The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

In this case, Wells Fargo Bank is the main secured creditor, meaning it gets paid first when Country Coach’s personal property is sold. If anything is left over, then other creditors would get paid.

Wells Fargo was owed more than $8.4 million when Country Coach filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. The Chapter 7 trustee, Ken Eiler, has estimated the auction will bring in more than $5 million. The auction is scheduled for Feb. 4 at the Country Coach plant.

The bank has agreed to set aside $200,000 to cover costs associated with administering the auction and winding down the company.

Country Coach owes Lane County about $100,000 in property taxes, and Wells Fargo and Lee Joint Venture, which owns much of the property on which the Country Coach plant sits, are working to pay off the tax debt, Eiler said.

Eiler has hired Commercial Industrial Auctions to conduct the auction with help from Hilco Industrial.

Four bus shells built by a third party will be omitted from the auction because of a dispute over who owns them.

Prevost, a Canadian manufacturer of bus chassis, said it provided Country Coach with four of its bus shells, valued at $500,000 each, but has never been paid. Under its business agreement with Prevost, Country Coach normally would take the shells on consignment, convert them into luxury motorcoaches and pay Prevost when it sold the coaches.

Christopher Kayser, a Portland attorney representing Prevost, said Wells Fargo is not entitled to the four bus shells because Country Coach never owned them. Wilson Muhlheim, a Eugene lawyer representing Wells Fargo, said Prevost allowed its security interest in the shells to lapse.