Stalking horse backs down
July 19, 2011 by Michael Schwartz
The local investment fund that had made a $4 million bid on the last remaining asset of a bankrupt local firm has backed out of the deal.
Richmond-based Real Estate Value Advisors and its REVA Catalyst Fund, which made the stalking horse bid for the former headquarters of Commonwealth Biotechnologies, pulled out before last week’s scheduled auction because it couldn’t secure financing.
“We had a lender lined up,” Sadler said, but it pulled out in part because of concerns over the how long the property’s tenant might stay in the space and questions about the company that owns the tenant.
What makes the Biotech Drive property attractive is that tenant, a company called AIBiotech. It is a division of Innsbrook-based Bostwick Laboratories. Bostwick purchased the AIBiotech assets from Commonwealth Biotech back in 2009.
Sadler has said he’s confident AIBiotech will stay for at least the three and half years remaining on its lease. But Bostwick hadn’t been particularly communicative about its plans for the future, he said.
“It’s a tough market in general, and that deal has some issues,” Sadler said.
The REVA fund is a private placement fund that was launched in 2009 and is open only to accredited investors. It invests in real estate that it thinks has ownership problems, and Commonwealth Biotech fit that criterion.