BOSTON — A group of Polaroid Corp. retirees and shareholders have asked the Massachusetts congressional delegation to halt the sale of the financially troubled company to One Equity Partners, according to a published report.
Instead, they believe they will get a better deal if the instant-photography pioneer is bought by Deutsche Bank, one of Europe's largest, according to Monday's Boston Globe. Deutsche Bank has offered $255 million for the company.
After filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors in October, One Equity Partners, a unit of Bank One Corp., and Deutsche Bank were the only bidders at the July 26 auction for the assets of Polaroid, which had accrued $1 billion in debt. Midway through the auction, a committee of creditors threw its weight behind the OEP bid of $264.5 million.
The bidding ended with a negotiated settlement after One Equity Partners agreed to pay $255 million for the company and give a group of unsecured creditors a 35 percent interest in the new company.
The retirees and shareholders group also wants U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter J. Walsh to reopen the auction.
"The Polaroid Retirees Association believes that the Polaroid bankruptcy and auction processes were seriously flawed and biased by the interests of the existing management team," John D. Gignac, the vice president of the association, wrote in a letter sent Friday to the lawmakers, the Globe said.
"The offer of one of the other bidders at the auction, the Deutsche Bank group, stands. The pending sale should not go forward under the current agreements, and we ask that you exercise your influence to have the bidding process reopened."
Under Deutsche Bank's offer, according to the Globe, unsecured creditors would see their share of the new Polaroid rise to 40 percent from 35 percent, while retirees would receive 5 percent of the new company and shareholders would receive 4 percent.
Deutsche Bank officials could not be reached for comment, the Globe said.
"To my knowledge, the process is closed," said Skip Colcord, a Polaroid spokesman, "and we're moving forward to a closing that is tentatively scheduled for the end of the month."
Founded in 1937 by Harvard dropout Edwin Land, Polaroid became hugely successful. But it struggled in recent years with management problems and developed a string of unsuccessful products.
Thousands of workers have been laid off and the company is in a dispute with retirees after cutting benefits.