Could Creamery Owner's Son Buy the Chain? Not If One Bank Has a Say

William McEnery's son might be the high bidder for the seven area Creamery ice cream shops, but that doesn't mean he owns them yet. One bank is standing in the way, according to court documents and McEnery's bankruptcy lawyer.

The is another of the properties and businesses affected by the , which owns the shops as well as the Frankfort-based Gas City chain. This month, as a way to cover debts reported to be between $100 million to $500 million.  

On April 8, the Creamery shops went up for auction in order to cover debts to the four banks holding the mortgages on the individual stores, which are in Frankfort, Mokena,New Lenox, Orland Hills, Homer Glen, Manhattan and Manteno. The younger McEnery, William "Billy" McEnery, through his limited liability company WAM Creameries, placed the winning bid of $3.26 million, according to court documents. 

However, one of the banks, First Community Bank, has objected to the younger McEnery's bid, claiming it's not in good faith, said Daniel Zazove, the lawyer for the McEnery Trust who has overseen the and Creamery auctions. 

Zazove says he's confused by the bank's objection, given that McEnery's bids for the stores First Community holds the mortgages on—Homer Glen and New Lenox—came in higher than were originally assessed. Also, the bank is only objecting to the bid on one location, not both, he added.

Is the bidder's family connection to the current owner a problem? Zazove said such arrangements aren't rare.

"It's not that unusual, especially in a small business," he said. "They (family-connected buyers) can generally know the business better and can pay more than other people."

The younger McEnery had his own lawyer negotiating the bid, and there were seven buyers who expressed interest in the Creameries, with bids coming in from three to four of them, Zazove said. 

"We did a fairly exhaustive sales process here," he said, adding that the Creamery properties weren't as attractive as the Gas City stations. 

Where does this leave the sale of the Creameries? First Community is filing a response to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago this week, and the next court date for the two parties is the end of this month, Zazove said. Until then, any sale is on hold.

The following shows the assessed value for each Creamery location and the younger McEnery's bid. Information was taken from court documents.