Yoel Freilich, the Israeli trustee selling intellectual property from insolvent Future Meat Technologies Ltd, moved the bidding deadline from July 22 to August 5, AgFunderNews reported. Freilich, an attorney at Gissin & Co, attributed the extension to bidder interest and the complexity of reviewing the technology.
The central issue is that the technology and factory are being sold separately. Freilich told AgFunderNews that a purchaser of Believer Meats’ North Carolina plant would receive neither the intellectual property nor authorization to use it without also buying those rights from Future Meat Technologies Ltd. He said the portfolio comprises three patent families, cell lines, media formulations and scale-up knowledge.
Kevin Sink, the US receiver handling the factory sale, extended its bid deadline to August 10 because multiple parties had expressed interest, according to AgFunderNews. North Carolina Business Court documents cited by the publication show that UPSIDE Foods submitted a $50 million offer that the court accepted as the baseline for further bids.
It remains unclear whether any prospective factory purchasers are also pursuing the intellectual property, as Freilich declined to identify overlapping bidders to AgFunderNews. Separately, a lawsuit described by the publication says Gray Construction alleges it is owed $36.4 million for work involving the North Carolina site.
CONCLUSION AgFunderNews reported that Believer Meats had raised almost $400 million before stopping operations in December, placing substantial prior investment behind the assets now being sold. Court documents cited by the publication schedule a factory auction for August 17 if rival offers emerge, followed by a sale hearing on August 20.