Limetree Bay By. ERNICE GILBERT/VI CONSORTIUM
Last updated at 7:16 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021.
ST. CROIX — Potential buyers of the Limetree Bay Refinery have until Nov. 10 to make their deposits to purchase the shuttered south shore facility, as Bankruptcy Judge David Jones for the Southern District of Texas on Friday approved an extension sought by Limetree.
The refinery has interested buyers, including St. Croix Energy whose aim is to restart the facility in an environmentally responsible manner, as well as scrapers, whose goal is to teardown the facility and sell its most useful parts. The extension would provide Limetree Bay with time to sort through the bids it received and prepare for the sale, according to Limetree Bay counsel Elizabeth Green.
According to court documents, the notice of extension milestone and bid procedures deadline is as follows:
Along with the time extension, J. Aron has agreed to provide the refinery, which runs out of money over the weekend, another $8.34 million. The funds are from oil sold from the refinery that was jointly owned by J. Aron and Limetree Bay. J. Aron is a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, the latter being the major refinery lender and lead debt sponsor during lead up to restart.
Some of the funds will go toward paying debtor-in-possession lender Arena Capital, as well as providing liquidity through Dec. 10, the closing date of the sale.
Arena Investors attorney Jason Brookner contended that the legal fees of $2 million, which was proposed by the debtor's counsel as funding to close the sale, was unreasonable. He said Arena Investors, which is the debtor-in-possession lender, would object to the amount if the matter is not resolved.
A hearing for the bankrupt facility's new budget has been set for Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. central time.
