A newly formed New Jersey-based company has acquired Yacht Path International and its assets for $250,000.
In June, the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Florida approved a hearing for July 22 to review bids for Yacht Path International, with all bids due by July 21. According to court documents, the only bidder to come forth was Yacht Path Holdings, which placed an offer for $250,000. Since the court determined Yacht Path Holdings to be a company in good standing, unrelated to Yacht Path International, its bid was accepted.
Yacht Path Holdings was registered with the state of New Jersey on June 13 as a limited liability company focused on transportation, with Michael Uhr as its registered agent. Uhr signed the sale agreement for Yacht Path International, giving Yacht Path Holdings ownership over Yacht Path International’s name, customer contracts and database, inventory, equipment, and all outstanding liens except for one, which is still under dispute. That dispute concerns Henry Mandil, the sole secured creditor in the bankruptcy, who petitioned for a writ of garnishment over Yacht Path International’s assets earlier this year, prior to the company filing for bankruptcy protection.
Yacht Path International filed for voluntary Chapter 11 status in March, following a petition filed that same month by Mandil and four other customers who wanted it to be forced into involuntary bankruptcy. Those customers claimed that Yacht Path International committed fraud, taking advance payments for their yachts and megayachts to be shipped despite knowing it was in financial distress. Some said they had to pay a second time, directly to the shipping company that Yacht Path International contracted with, upon their yachts’ arrival in the final destination. The shipping company informed them that it had not been paid and therefore filed liens against their yachts. Kevin Cummings, who established Yacht Path International in 2001 with his brother Dennis, claimed that a failed merger and a resulting freezing of assets, the latter connected to Mandil, prevented the company from making the payments to the shipping company.
In May, the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Florida appointed a trustee, Soneet Kapila, to take over operations of Yacht Path International from Cummings and evaluate the best way to proceed with the company’s reorganization. In bankruptcy cases such as this, that decision can include selling the business or dissolving it. Kapila decided in June to sell Yacht Path International and solicit bids.
Yacht Path International’s debts, including ones from its sister companies, total more than $21 million. We requested comment from Kapila, the lawyers representing Yacht Path International, and Uhr regarding the sale to Yacht Path Holdings, but did not receive a reply from any of the parties by presstime.
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