Saturday, February 26, 2022, 12:37 pm News Flash Archive

UMB Bank was the highest bidder for the assets of Express Grain at the bankruptcy auction held Friday morning, according to multiple individuals who observed the auction.

The UMB Bank bid was close to $26 million for substantially all the Express Grain assets.

Normally, a creditor such as UMB Bank will only bid for bankruptcy assets when it believes that the other bids are lower than the potential resale value of the property.

According to the bankruptcy court docket, the court approved the sale of the assets at yesterday afternoon's hearing, but the court has not publicly stated the identity of the purchaser, or what the exact purchase amount is.

According to witnesses, Farmers Grain, Roebuck Landing Grain Terminal, and Thoroughbred AgriFuel Holdings all placed bids, but in the end, UMB Bank outbid them all by almost $5 million.

As reported by The Taxpayers Channel yesterday, the court excluded all members of the press from both the auction and the hearing afterwards. See our reporting here: Press excluded from Express Grain auction and sale hearing

If the $26 million bid made by UMB Bank was approved by the court, it is a crushing blow to those who held out hopes that the farmers would be made whole.

Express Grain owes at least $165 million to its creditors, with around $100 million in secured and priority debt. See our reporting here: Express Grain owes $60 million more than first believed to its creditors

Thus, even given the projected $57.5 million in money the court has sequestered for payment of creditors, there won't be enough to cover the secured creditors' debts, much less the $41 million owed the farmers, and the multi-millions owed to other creditors including MDA, various taxing entities, local utility and gas vendors, and many others.

In the end, it looks like Express Grain was very much over-valued as far as its assets are concerned.

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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