Dextera Surgical Inc. filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, and agreed to sell its assets to B. Braun Group's Aesculap Inc. for about $17.3 million.
The agreement with Aesculap sets the minimum acceptable bid for the company's assets and is subject to bankruptcy court approval and other conditions.
"The agreement with Aesculap will serve as a 'stalking horse' bid in a court-supervised auction of our assets," said Dextera President and CEO Julian Nikolchev.
If approved by the court, the proposed bidding procedures would require interested parties to submit competitive binding offers to acquire the company's assets, after which an auction would take place.
A final sale approval hearing is expected to take place shortly after the auction and is expected to take place by early 2018. Dextera anticipates substantially all of its assets to be sold.
Dextera will continue to operate during the bidding process, which is expected to conclude in 45 days to 60 days. The healthcare equipment company has negotiated with Aesculap for debtor-in-possession financing to ensure that it has sufficient liquidity to continue operations.
Dextera retained JMP Securities as financial adviser, Cooley LLP as special corporate counsel and Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP as bankruptcy counsel.
