A potential bidder objected to the sale of Young Buck’s music catalog in his bankruptcy case. According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, Middleton Open Season Partners defended its winning bid against the objections of Structured Asset Sales in a filing on Monday (January 8).
Open Season’s lawyer Justin Campbell asked a Tennessee court to validate his client’s purchase of Young Buck’s catalog. Campbell said Structured Asset Sales failed to participate in the original auction for the catalog yet sent an objection to the bankruptcy trustee months later. The attorney noted Structured Assets Sales cited no issues with the sales process as it simply claimed it could pay more than the winning bid of $740,000.
“Structured Asset Sales is nothing more than a disgruntled potential bidder,” Campbell wrote. “Structured Asset Sales, through its principal [David] Pullman, received the Solicitation Email and made no efforts or attempts to contact the Broker or to participate in the bidding process for the Property.”
He continued, “Structured Asset Sales finally discussed the Property with the Broker in mid-December, almost six months after the Solicitation Email was sent and almost two weeks after the Sale Motion was filed. Structured Asset Sales, now realizing that it slept on its opportunity to participate in the bidding process, seeks to object to the Sale Motion and disrupt the private sale to Open Season. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as multiple other lower courts in the Sixth Circuit, have stated that frustrated bidders do not have standing to object to the sale of the property.”
A broker working for the trustee solicited offers for Young Buck’s catalog in June 2023. Final offers were due on July 14, 2023. The deadline was extended to July 19, 2023. Open Season won the bidding war as documentation of the sale commenced on July 20, 2023.
Structured Asset Sales allegedly did not contact the broker until December 2023. Open Season demanded a break-up fee if the court allowed Young Buck’s catalog to be auctioned off for a second time.
“Following Open Season’s successful high bid with the Broker, Open Season began a lengthy due diligence process to confirm that all musical compositions and sound recordings listed in the Catalog were properly included,” Campbell explained. “This included multiple interactions with the Trustee and Broker regarding the proper documentation needed for the release of royalties by ASCAP, Select-O-Hits, Inc., SoundExchange, Inc., and Universal Music Publishing, Inc. As part of this process, Open Season has incurred more than $20,000.00 worth of expenses directly related to this transaction, which are continuing to accrue. Open Season requests a break-up fee of $25,000.00 to be paid from the proceeds of the sale of the Property, in the event another auction is held and Open Season is not ultimately the successful bidder.”
He added, “While break-up fees are normally contemplated in situations where a stalking horse bidder is sought (unlike in the current situation), a break-up fee is necessary here due to the significant amount of time and expense incurred by Open Season to prepare and verify the documentation related to the Property.”
The price for Young Buck’s catalog was reduced to $730,000 following Open Season’s due diligence on the purchase. Open Season urged the court to approve the sale and deny Structured Assets Sales’ objection.