SONICblue Asset Auctions Are Set
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 4/7/2003
SANTA CLARA, CALIF.— A United States bankruptcy court auction of SONICblue's Go Video assets was scheduled for Friday, April 4, and was to be followed on April 15 by separate auctions of the company's ReplayTV and Rio business units.
Although SONICblue previously reached a definitive agreement to sell its GoVideo unit to Opta Systems for about $12.5 million, an auction is still required under bankruptcy law, a SONICblue spokeswoman said. A successful bidder other than Opta would have to beat the agreement's price, she said.
Opta Systems' vice chairman, Roger Hackett, is a former SONICblue executive.
Meantime, SONICblue was unable to reach final terms on the sale of its ReplayTV and Rio units to D&M Holdings, parent of Denon and Marantz, in time to meet a court-set deadline. D&M, however, said it's still interested in acquiring ReplayTV and Rio and might participate in the auction process. D&M made a non-binding proposal in March to acquire SONICblue's ReplayTV and Rio units for $40 million, minus up to $5 million of assumed liabilities.
SONICblue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March to continue in business while it negotiated the sale of its units. The company reported a $33.4 million net loss in the fourth quarter on a sales decline of 16 percent to $66.99 million.
The company closed two other business units in recent years: its ProGear wireless Web-pad unit and its California Audio Labs audio and home theater business.
