Portland Pickles Ownership Interested in Purchasing Portland Winterhawks
The Portland Winterhawks ownership, Portland Winterhawks Inc., reportedly filed for bankruptcy last week, but a different Portland group could be coming to their rescue.
Alan Miller, owner of the West Coast League’s Portland Pickles, announced on the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano on 750 The Game on Monday afternoon that his ownership group is planning to make a bid to purchase the Portland Winterhawks.
Portland Pickles wood-bat baseball club owners exploring ownership of Portland Winterhawks.
Western Hockey League Winterhawks are part of a Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing.
“It’s a really good opportunity,” said Alan Miller, Pickles owner. “… this is a new world we’re in.”
— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) May 11, 2020
Winterhawks owner William Gallacher “allegedly failed to repay money his companies had borrowed in 2018,” The Oregonian reports. The lender is Bridging Financing, and they went to court in Toronto earlier in May.
Bridging Financing took control of “several” of Gallacher’s companies, including the Western Hockey League team.
A court-appointed receiver is now in charge of the hockey team, who has no plans to shut the Winterhawks down.
From The Oregonian:
“At present, the Receiver has no indication that PWH is in financial distress apart from its involvement in the Bridging Loan,” the receiver said in court documents. “Accordingly, the Receiver views it as important to maintain the operations of PWH and the Winterhawks’ franchise to preserve their value for the benefit of all creditors of the Debtors in the Canadian Proceeding.”
The Oregonian’s report also details the Chapter 15 bankruptcy as “a relatively new type of bankruptcy filing for insolvency cases where the debtor’s interests are in more than one country.” Also, it is unclear if the “bankruptcy and receivership will play out here in Portland or in Canada.”
So, we are in “wait-and-see” mode right now.
