Whenever you are involved in a receivership or a bankruptcy liquidation don’t forget about the stalking horse when it is appropriate. The stalking horse is someone who agrees to make a minimum bid for a business or property prior to an auction. In return for this minimum bid they will receive a payment called a breakup fee if another bidder for the property is ultimately successful. I successfully used this when I had a commercial property that I needed to sell for at least $4 million to meet the amount owed to creditors. Having a stalking horse discouraged a small number of local bidders from forming a consortium to keep the price artificially low which they had initially tried to do. We ultimately sold the property for $5.2 million and the stalking horse was not the successful bidder but they received a nice consolation fee for assisting in the sale.