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Judge Says Aloha to Yucaipa deal with Mesa

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http://www.starbulletin.com/news/breaking/40667923.html


Judge invalidates Yucaipa purchase of Aloha name

The rule blocks go!'s rebranding of its rival until at least a new auction can be held

By Dave Segal

POSTED: 11:57 a.m. HST, Mar 03, 2009

A federal Bankruptcy Court judge invalidated an auction today that would have paved the way for Mesa Air Group's go! to take over the Aloha Airlines name.

Judge Lloyd King, emphasizing that the auction to buy Aloha's intellectual property should have been a public process, blasted the attorneys conducting the auction for refusing to allow in Honolulu Advertiser reporter Rick Daysog, who had written a letter to the court voicing his complaint.

King, who said the auction must be reheld, appeared during much of today's hearing to be entertaining the idea of invalidating the winning bid of Yucaipa Cos. and allowing backup bidder Hawaiian Airlines to take over the Aloha name.

Instead, King ruled that the auction must be reheld and that Aloha Airlines trustee Dane Field must return Hawaiian's $50,000 deposit.

Yucaipa, the former majority shareholder of Aloha, had submitted a winning credit bid of $750,000 for Aloha's intellectual property in which Yucaipa would reduce the amount of money that it was owed by Aloha.

However, at a Dec. 3 confirmation hearing, King postponed approving the auction after Yucaipa, which had bought an Aloha lawsuit against Mesa, reached an out-of-court settlement allowing Mesa interisland carrier go! to rebrand its planes as Aloha.

Aloha had claimed in its lawsuit against Mesa that the Phoenix-based carrier used predatory pricing and proprietary information in an attempt to drive Aloha out of the Hawaii market. Aloha eventually ceased passenger operations on March 31, 2008, and blamed go! and escalating fuel prices for its demise.

A federal Bankruptcy Court judge invalidated an auction today that would have paved the way for Mesa Air Group's go! to take over the Aloha Airlines name.

Judge Lloyd King, emphasizing that the auction to buy Aloha's intellectual property should have been a public process, blasted the attorneys conducting the auction for refusing to allow in Honolulu Advertiser reporter Rick Daysog, who had written a letter to the court voicing his complaint.

King, who said the auction must be reheld, appeared during much of today's hearing to be entertaining the idea of invalidating the winning bid of Yucaipa Cos. and allowing backup bidder Hawaiian Airlines to take over the Aloha name.

Instead, King ruled that the auction must be reheld and that Aloha Airlines trustee Dane Field must return Hawaiian's $50,000 deposit.

Yucaipa, the former majority shareholder of Aloha, had submitted a winning credit bid of $750,000 for Aloha's intellectual property in which Yucaipa would reduce the amount of money that it was owed by Aloha.

However, at a Dec. 3 confirmation hearing, King postponed approving the auction after Yucaipa, which had bought an Aloha lawsuit against Mesa, reached an out-of-court settlement allowing Mesa interisland carrier go! to rebrand its planes as Aloha.

Aloha had claimed in its lawsuit against Mesa that the Phoenix-based carrier used predatory pricing and proprietary information in an attempt to drive Aloha out of the Hawaii market. Aloha eventually ceased passenger operations on March 31, 2008, and blamed go! and escalating fuel prices for its demise.
 
Actually there is another article that says that the judge basically ordered a new public sale and that he acknowledged that Yucaipa is the only bidder. Like it or not, Mesa will likely get the Aloha name.
 
"King, who said the auction must be reheld, appeared during much of today's hearing to be entertaining the idea of invalidating the winning bid of Yucaipa Cos. and allowing backup bidder Hawaiian Airlines to take over the Aloha name."

Yea, I don't think so. Especially since Yucaipa bought it for $750k and licensed it back to Mesa for $6mil. There might be some more people interested in that kind of deal. Some how, I think the only ones that are going to get screwed out of this whole thing is Yucaipa.
 
Spot on.....

"King, who said the auction must be reheld, appeared during much of today's hearing to be entertaining the idea of invalidating the winning bid of Yucaipa Cos. and allowing backup bidder Hawaiian Airlines to take over the Aloha name."

Yea, I don't think so. Especially since Yucaipa bought it for $750k and licensed it back to Mesa for $6mil. There might be some more people interested in that kind of deal. Some how, I think the only ones that are going to get screwed out of this whole thing is Yucaipa.

Truth is, Mesa is probably relieved. Economy is much different now in the islands, even the interisland market. Just ask Mokulele Air.
Yucaipa was the real winner on the deal before. Actually, Mesa was allowing former Aloha employees free travel if the deal went through. If Hawaiian gets the name now for $1million, are they going to take care of former Aloha employees?
Everybody is so quick to hate Mesa, that you fail to see that this might be what they dreamed of......
 
Keep in mind that Yucaipa gets to "credit bid" i.e. reduce what they are already owed. They have 75M+ with which to credit bid so there is no incentive for anyone else to even bid - which is why Hawaiian asked for their money back. This was all face saving for the judge so he would not be remembered as the judge who gave Mesa the Aloha name - even though he will be the judge who gives Mesa the Aloha name.
 
Keep in mind that Yucaipa gets to "credit bid" i.e. reduce what they are already owed. They have 75M+ with which to credit bid so there is no incentive for anyone else to even bid - which is why Hawaiian asked for their money back. This was all face saving for the judge so he would not be remembered as the judge who gave Mesa the Aloha name - even though he will be the judge who gives Mesa the Aloha name.

Roger, thanks for the low down..... Do you really have 35,000 hours??????? That is impressive!
 
maybe republic will put in a bid to purchase the aloha name.republic did hire a lot of former aloha fas to work in hnl as did mokulele hire them to do the ground handling.
 

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