Delay sought
Physicians at Oklahoma City’s ProCure Proton Therapy Center have asked the bankruptcy court to delay its sale.
The primary physicians group at Oklahoma City’s ProCure Proton Therapy Center has asked the bankruptcy court to delay its sale and extend a bidding war over the facility.
The sale hearing was scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Delaware, the site of the bankruptcy sale.
Radiation Medicine Associates and its nine physicians joined SAH Oklahoma Proton in the filing Thursday, arguing that the winning bidder’s business plan was “not viable and is ethically questionable.” SAH Oklahoma Proton was one of two entities to bid for the center but it was rejected by ProCure’s current management team.
The lone bidder to emerge from ProCure’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy was Oklahoma Proton Center LLC, led by former ProCure employee David Raubach.
SAH Oklahoma Proton told the court it deserves another chance to make a valid bid because of what it viewed as inaccurate statements by ProCure as it sought bankruptcy protection. SAH believed that a magnetic coil needed to be replaced and prepared a bid based on that information. However, the company said, the coil is fine.
“Why then did the (ProCure and Raubach) make the representation that the main coil needs to be replaced? One can only surmise that such representation was made with the intent to scare away other bidders and more importantly, any potential financing source for any other bidder,” SAH wrote in a court filing this month, adding that it could have raised more money if SAH had known the coil was operational.
After he worked for ProCure, Raubach became an executive for Tennesseebased Provision, another company that developed and opened proton therapy centers.
Provision CEO Terry Douglass also filed an 11th-hour document with the Delaware bankruptcy court making allegations against Raubach. According to Douglass’ affidavit, Provision signaled its interest in acquiring ProCure in May and even sent Raubach and a team to perform due diligence.
Provision eventually withdrew its interest, but Douglass wrote that Raubach went back to ProCure executives with a pitch of his own — even though he was still a Provision employee.
“Provision has determined that additional confidential information and proprietary work product may have been used by The Oklahoma Proton Center LLC in the submission of its bid for debtor’s assets,” Douglass wrote, referring to Raubach’s company. “Provision takes the unauthorized use of its property very seriously and is presently considering its options and potential remedies for the misappropriation of its property.”
ProCure’s management responded by asking the court to reject the claims made by SAH and Douglass as hearsay and because they were filed long after sale deadlines.
“(The SAH filing) was done for one purpose and one purpose only — to block the currently proposed sale, which is the highest and best offer debtor has, in an attempt to drive off (Raubach) and allow SAH to buy the debtor’s assets on the cheap,” ProCure’s attorney wrote.
Officials involved in the proceedings could not be reached for comment Thursday.