Court approves Nitto's purchase of AcoustiSeal

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Dec. 3)—The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri approved Nitto Missouri Acquisition Corp.'s purchase of AcoustiSeal Inc.'s operations for $20 million at a Dec. 2 hearing. No other companies bid for the troubled rubber foam and seal producer, which filed for Chapter 11 early in September. The sale will close Dec. 9 but the court ordered AcoustiSeal to hold the money in escrow until it rules on when it should be released and to whom. Lawyers for AcoustiSeal's secured creditor, Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, and for the unsecured creditors committee, filed secondary motions that must be ruled on. The bank's lawyer is requesting the money be paid directly to its client rather than to AcoustiSeal, while the unsecured creditors committee has filed a motion to convert the case to Chapter 7, said Stephen B. Sutton, counsel for Nitto. Converting the case would buy the committee extra time to search AcoustiSeal's loan agreements for any excluded assets, giving them hope of recouping a portion of the purchase price, he said.