Amid restructuring, Portland IT firm Tilson hires investment bank to sell the business
Photo / Renee Cordes
Tilson, a telecommunciations firm headquartered on Portland's East End, has hired an investment bank to sell the business as it seeks to restructure its debt.
As Portland-based IT firm Tilson seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company has enlisted an investment bank to sell the business.
The company, led by CEO Darrell Ingram since January 2024, builds fiber and wireless networks with 600 employees nationwide, including 67 in Maine. Tilson filed for bankruptcy protection in late May after its largest client cancelled its contracts.
A June 13 court filing in the bankruptcy case spells out Tilson’s plans to sell the business “as a going concern," including the hiring of Woodward Park Partners LLC, a Bloomfield, Mich.-based investment bank, to lead the process.
“We’ve had a strong level of interest so far, particularly from private equity groups, which aligns with what we expected going into the process,” Kat Devillier, a spokeswoman for Tilson, told Mainebiz by email. “Many of the interested parties have been familiar with Tilson for some time and initial engagement has been encouraging.”
The sale process is subject to certain milestones under Tilson’s so-called debtor-in-possession financing that allows the company to keep operating while it restructures its balance sheet.
Tilson is also seeking permission to designate a preferred bidder known as a “stalking horse bidder” for the planned sale of its business.
In the event that the preferred bidder is not successful, Tilson would pay that party a 3% break-up fee and reimburse $100,000 out-of-pocket expenses, according to the filing.
It was not immediately clear if Tilson has a preferred suitor already lined up.
Lindsay Milne, a shareholder at Portland-based law firm Bernstein Shur representing Tilson in the bankruptcy case, declined to comment.
'Nice clean title to everything'
Commenting on the procedure, one outside expert noted that as a general rule the buyer "gets a nice clean title to everything."
The buyer would “get to own and operate the business with no entanglements related to the bankruptcy or the seller’s pre-bankruptcy operations,” said Roger Clement, a partner with the Portland-based law firm Verrill, which has no involvement in the Tilson case. “That’s the benefit of doing a sale in bankruptcy."
Clement also said that as a general rule in these situations, the sale price is virtually always either in cash or a combination of cash and assumption of debt.
A creditors' meeting in Tilson’s bankruptcy case is scheduled for Tuesday, July 8.
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