Diablo Grande should be sold today

First off, is this an unpredictable news town, or what? As I was leaving work Friday evening, I thought Diablo Grande would be the big story of this week. Then we learned about a body found in a car in Del Puerto Canyon under mysterious circumstances. Then a man drove his car into the Center Building. And suddenly this Diablo Grande stuff seems a lot less serious. But I digress ...

It's signed and sealed, and it's going to be delivered less than two hours from now. Diablo Grande and World International, LLC, have both signed an asset purchase agreement — the long awaited document spelling out the details of Diablo Grande's sale. The sale, along with a revised settlement between Diablo Grande and its creditors, should both be approved at today's hearing at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento (shown again via teleconference in Modesto).

It's probably best not to celebrate just yet, because the sale is still contingent upon a civil engineering study by World International. The study, which not surprisingly focuses on water, must be complete by Sept. 26. After that point, the sale becomes binding and World International can no longer back out.

I would be a little surprised if the study finds anything that would be a deal-breaker for World International, even regarding the troubled state of Diablo Grande's water. The sale negotiations dragged on long enough that the company must have been able to do at least some due dilligence on the water situation. And a breakdown of the study found in court documents includes specific mention of trihalomethanes, which is a good sign that World International at least isn't going into this totally blind.

The question everyone seems to be asking (myself included) is "Who is World International?" I haven't nailed that down completely, but I think I'm getting closer. Whatever information I have, combined with whatever is revealed at today's hearing (probably not much there) will be included in the story I'll post after the hearing.

I will try to send an update to this blog via text message, like I did at the last hearing. That seemed to work OK. So check back here for details throughout the day.