The trustee liquidating part of New York taxi mogul Evgeny "Gene" Freidman's holdings has found a bidder offering $7.7 million ahead of a planned auction to help repay former lender Citibank .
Bankruptcy trustee Greg Messer said in court papers that a stalking horse, or lead, bidder had offered $167,500 for each of 46 taxi medallions owned by Mr. Freidman's companies that have been stranded in the two-year-old bankruptcy case.
The stalking-horse offer, which requires bankruptcy court approval, would put a floor under the medallions' price at a public auction scheduled to take place Sept. 18 in East Elmhurst, N.Y. Details about the bidder, MGPE Inc., weren't available in court papers, and lawyers involved in the matter either couldn't be reached or didn't respond to requests for comment.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission issues medallions, which allow a vehicle's driver to pick up street hails and carry fare-paying passengers. The city first auctioned medallions in 1937; the auctions hit a high of $1.3 million in 2013. The value of medallions has dropped with the rise of the app-based ride-sharing companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.
A native of Russia, Mr. Freidman took over his father's taxi business in the mid-1990s to grow it into one of the New York City's largest taxi fleets. Mr. Freidman, who at the height of his business owned more than 800 medallions, had pegged the value of his medallions at somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000 each in earlier court papers.
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A taxi medallion on a New York City cab.PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS
The embattled taxi mogul later became the public face of opposition to emerging industry competitors such as ride-hailing companies. Major taxi fleets in San Francisco, Washington and Chicago have filed for bankruptcy amid the trouble, and banks that specialize in lending against medallions, such as Signature Bank ,have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in write-downs.
In the summer of 2015, Mr. Freidman put a portion of his companies that own medallions and vehicles under chapter 11 protection in Brooklyn, N.Y. The bankruptcy filing came amid an escalating dispute with Citibank, which tried to seize assets to make good on what it said were late payments under approximately $34 million in loans.
Mr. Freidman disputed that he made late payments and accused Citibank officials of trying to sabotage his operations while courting business from a popular ride-sharing app. Citibank denied the accusations, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Carla Craig ordered the installation of a chapter 7 trustee at the bank's request.
Proceeds from the public auction are earmarked under an earlier court stipulation for paying off Citibank, with $1 million set aside for other debts connected to various taxi companies under chapter 11.
Judge Craig has scheduled a Sept. 25 hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn to consider the auction results.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-taxi-moguls-medallions-find-a-buyer-1504737484
Now the question is.. who is MGPE inc, what their intentions are.. and what do they know that no one else does that they're looking to take over 46 medallions all at once.
Bankruptcy trustee Greg Messer said in court papers that a stalking horse, or lead, bidder had offered $167,500 for each of 46 taxi medallions owned by Mr. Freidman's companies that have been stranded in the two-year-old bankruptcy case.
The stalking-horse offer, which requires bankruptcy court approval, would put a floor under the medallions' price at a public auction scheduled to take place Sept. 18 in East Elmhurst, N.Y. Details about the bidder, MGPE Inc., weren't available in court papers, and lawyers involved in the matter either couldn't be reached or didn't respond to requests for comment.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission issues medallions, which allow a vehicle's driver to pick up street hails and carry fare-paying passengers. The city first auctioned medallions in 1937; the auctions hit a high of $1.3 million in 2013. The value of medallions has dropped with the rise of the app-based ride-sharing companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.
A native of Russia, Mr. Freidman took over his father's taxi business in the mid-1990s to grow it into one of the New York City's largest taxi fleets. Mr. Freidman, who at the height of his business owned more than 800 medallions, had pegged the value of his medallions at somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000 each in earlier court papers.
A taxi medallion on a New York City cab.PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS
The embattled taxi mogul later became the public face of opposition to emerging industry competitors such as ride-hailing companies. Major taxi fleets in San Francisco, Washington and Chicago have filed for bankruptcy amid the trouble, and banks that specialize in lending against medallions, such as Signature Bank ,have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in write-downs.
In the summer of 2015, Mr. Freidman put a portion of his companies that own medallions and vehicles under chapter 11 protection in Brooklyn, N.Y. The bankruptcy filing came amid an escalating dispute with Citibank, which tried to seize assets to make good on what it said were late payments under approximately $34 million in loans.
Mr. Freidman disputed that he made late payments and accused Citibank officials of trying to sabotage his operations while courting business from a popular ride-sharing app. Citibank denied the accusations, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Carla Craig ordered the installation of a chapter 7 trustee at the bank's request.
Proceeds from the public auction are earmarked under an earlier court stipulation for paying off Citibank, with $1 million set aside for other debts connected to various taxi companies under chapter 11.
Judge Craig has scheduled a Sept. 25 hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn to consider the auction results.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-taxi-moguls-medallions-find-a-buyer-1504737484
Now the question is.. who is MGPE inc, what their intentions are.. and what do they know that no one else does that they're looking to take over 46 medallions all at once.
