Hall's Claim Exchange Rescues Ailing Tech Firm

BridgeSpan filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, just four months after it shifted the corporate headquarters from San Jose, CA to Hall Office Park in Frisco. A pair of BridgeSpan title company subsidiaries are now working through separate bankruptcies, including one Chapter 7, according to Donald Braun, president of Hall Financial Group.

In the lock, stock and barrel buy of the parent operation, Hall also got the team behind the intellectual property: Jim Burgess and Jon Allen, both vice presidents of product development and customer relations, respectively, and Sri Krishnan, chief technology officer. "They were, in our view, part of the critical team that we wanted to bring with this acquisition," Braun tells GlobeSt.com, adding seven other tech employees also were kept. In January, 150 employees were laid off from the title companies.

After the bankruptcy filing, Hall filed a claim with the Northern California Bankruptcy Court for rent on 33,000 sf of class A space at 2591 Dallas Parkway. Then, Hall anted up some bailout money followed by a second cash infusion to complete the takeover so BridgeSpan Inc. could emerge from Chapter 11.

"The parent was driven into bankruptcy because of the problems with those two title businesses," Braun emphasizes. "My understanding is there were other interested parties. It's just that we made the best bid. We're committed to spending several million dollars to make this company viable and take it to the next level."

The six-year-old BridgeSpan, which provides services in 40 states, is the sixth high-tech company Hall's bought in two years. Braun says the restructured company will hold its name, but align with Hall's Skywire Software group to save on the bottom line. "The BridgeSpan name and technology are recognized in the marketplace. There's a reason to keep the BridgeSpan name," he says, adding the new owner's main contribution will be sales and marketing plus the cash infusion. The restructured firm, keeping just the Frisco location, will focus solely on enterprise software and not be directly involved in title insurance business or ancillary mortgage services.