Indian Motorcycle Company to Be Auctioned

The assets of the Indian Motorcycle Company will be auctioned off, with bids due by October 17. Seventeen entities requested the confidential information packets, according to this story in the Hollister, California Freelance News.

The auction will simply sell the assets, not stock or ownership of the existing company, which means that the new owners will get the potentially productive aspects of the company and will not assume the debts and liabilities, which are reported to be considerably more than the estimated value of the assets. Because it is not saddled with the debt of the existing company, the new owner has a better chance of resuming production of the brand's motorcycles.

Payment for the assets would them be divided among the creditors in a manner proportionate to what they are owed. In the unlikely event that all creditors are paid, stockholders will get any excess. Owners of existing Indian motorcycle models probably won't get any benefits, except a supply line for parts. The new company is not obligated to accept the old firm's warranty liabilities under this sort of sale.

The future of the Indian motorcycle brand will depend on who gets the rights to the name and what that new owner decides to do with it. One of the bidders will reportedly be a group of investors led by Rey Sotelo, former CEO of the company that resurrected Indian in the 1990s, according to this story in The Dispatchof Gilroy, California.