1E9Ct5D

) An inventory of assets; andc) A balance statement as of the date on which the trustee assumes the administrationof the merchant’s business.326C H A P T E R X XThe trustee must proceed to sell the merchant’s assets and attempt to obtain the bestprice possible from that sale. The trustee should even consider the possibility of maintainingthe merchant’s business in operation.In any case, the merchant’s assets must be sold through the auction procedure set forthin the Business Reorganization Law unless a better price can be obtained through a differentprocedure previously approved by the judge.The Business Reorganization Law distinguishes different types or grades of creditors,who will be paid from the sale according to the following order and manner:a) Creditors owed salaries or indemnifications from the two prior years, which is tosay any amounts owed to the merchant’s employees;b) Creditors owed amounts for administering the estate during the bankruptcy declarationprocess;c) Creditors owed normal amounts incurred in securing the merchant’s estate orassets subject to reorganization;d) Creditors owed for judicial or extrajudicial proceedings benefiting the merchant’sestate assets subject to reorganization;e) The inspector, conciliator, and bankruptcy trustee’s fees and costs that are strictlyindispensable to their work and duly documented;f) Creditors with a property guarantee (mortgage and pledge), the money owed towhom will be paid with the proceeds from the sale of the mortgaged or pledgedproperty;g) Creditors owed amounts related to labor matters other than those mentioned insection a) and tax debts;h) Secured creditors;i) Unsecured creditors, which is to say, those who do not belong in any of the previouslymentioned categories. These creditors will collect on a prorated basis andwithout distinction of dates.Therefore, in the foreclosure process secured creditors do not lose their payment preferencesor priority status, which underscores the importance of securing such preferencesin order to ensure the recovery of the investment.The creditors who do not receive full payment of monies owed to them will preservetheir rights and actions against the merchant for the remaining balance. Within this categoryare creditors with a property guarantee or secured creditors whose credit has notbeen completely paid with the result of the sale of the merchant’s secured property.