In the hearing this morning on Oneida Ltd. in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, Judge Allan Gropper proclaimed the proceedings would wrap up today, no matter how late. "We have a projection we'll conclude today. We're going to go late," Gropper said at 11:54 a.m., adding, "We'll go to midnight, two a.m., if we have to."

Then, a few minutes later, Gropper told the court, "We're going to stay until midnight or all night to finish this record today." The questioning of equity committee advisor Tom Thompson, managing director at Imperial Capital LLC, concluded before the court broke for lunch around 1:30 p.m.

Among the issues Leonard Klingbaum at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, attorney for JP Morgan Chase Bank, and Bill Roll, a Shearman & Sterling LLP partner representing the debtor pressed Thompson on: the comps used to analyze Oneida's prospects and balance sheet. Roll also asked Thompson about the weight--60/40 debt to equity--he gives to Oneida now versus the 40/60 debt-to-equity ratio he placed on Oneida in March, the same month the company entered Chapter 11.

Bidders D.E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios LLC and Xerion Capital Partners LLC will inform the court before the proceedings conclude about their findings during the due diligence period that followed lobbing their unsolicited $222.5 million offer for Oneida. In the letter of intent, D.E. Shaw and Xerion indicate their proposal includes "an element of consideration for the company's common equity holders."

What that nebulous statement means should certainly be at least clarified by the end of the Oneida hearing today--if D.E. Shaw and Xerion say they intend to proceed with their efforts to buy the Oneida, N.Y.-based tableware manufacturer.

Bankruptcy