RE:RE:RE:Offers This is still likely months from the final resolution, not hours, for sure. The courts will be deciding the final outcome, and courts rarely move that fast. The courts will just rubber stamp unless there is some indication of fraud or underhanded shenanigans. The courts will monitor the bidding process so expect it to take a while, even though the strategic process has given them a head start. What is being auctioned here is not Harte Gold, it's Harte Gold's assets. When they are done, nothing of value is left in Harte.
There will be no shut down. The DIP loan ensures that operations will continue through the period of CCAA proceedings. Divide the amount of that financing by the burn rate to get an idea how long Harte and Silver Lake expect it to take. The DIP loan takes first precedence in the pecking order, even ahead of the BNPP facility.
Silver Lake's bid put a limit of $7.5 million on trade payables. That's likely pennies on the dollar for what suppliers are currently owed. Since shareholders come behind trade creditors in the pecking order, any improved bid would need to be substantially better to pay off the suppliers completely and still have something left for shareholders. Maybe there's some other bidder out there just waiting, but you can be pretty sure Harte selected Silver Lake for the "Stalking Horse" bid because theirs was the best they could come up with in the strategic process. They clearly have the inside track, and may be the only horse in the race.
I worked for a company that went through this more than once, so I'm very familiar wit terms like CCAA, DIP, Stalking Horse, Plan of Arrangement, Court Monitor, etc. There will be surprises along the way as details become public, but it will all play out over the next weeks and months.