The two-day auction at the HPM factory in Mount Gilead generated about $5.2 million, according to Morrow County, Ohio, officials and the court-appointed receiver, Christopher Parker.
“We were quite pleased with the results with the auction,” Parker said. “The numbers, I think, signify that the economy's improving and that the results were actually higher than what was projected.”
The March 29-30 auction drew more than 300 bidders in person and another 140 online, Parker said.
The $5.2 million is the amount of gross proceeds, before costs and fees get deducted.
Morrow County gets $432,000 of the total, for unpaid personal property taxes from the machinery manufacturer, under an agreement signed by the county and Huntington National Bank, Parker said. Morrow County Auditor Mary Holtrey said that is not the full amount of taxes owed.
Mount Gilead's school district will get the largest portion, around $270,000, Holtrey said.
Parker, a lawyer from Toledo, Ohio, said Huntington National Bank has priority over the rest of the money. HPM-related companies owe the bank nearly $14 million in loans, making Huntington by far the largest creditor.
HPM closed in December 2009, ending production of injection molding machines, sheet extrusion lines and die-casting equipment.