By today’s 5 p.m. deadline, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court website has not identified any “stalking horse” agreements that would provide benchmarks to sell RG Steel’s mills at Sparrows Point, Warren, Ohio, and Wheeling, W.Va.

Notice of such agreements is required to be placed on the court’s docket. A submission could conceivably be placed on the docket later this evening.

If no stalking horse is identified, RG Steel’s assets will automatically go up for sale tomorrow (July 31) at an auction held at the Manhattan law offices of Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

About 18 parties reportedly submitted the paperwork and a 2% cash deposit for the right to bid on RG Steel properties last Wednesday. They included three companies identified by sources as wanting to operate all or parts of the Sparrows Point mill in Baltimore County.

RG Steel had until 5 p.m. today to enter into a purchase agreement (known as a “stalking horse”) with one or more of these bidders. A stalking horse sets the minimum price subject to higher and better offers at the auction.

Without a stalking horse, all qualified bidders may bid on the bankrupt steel company’s assets at tomorrow’s auction.

In addition, Renco Group, majority owner of RG Steel, and senior bank lenders such as Wells Fargo Finance could also bid on the properties in what is known as a credit bid.

A large number of the qualified bidders for Sparrows Point, Warren and Wheeling are known to be scrap dealers and related parities that plan to sell off the plants’ machinery and raw materials.

It was reported by The Brew last week that CSN of Brazil and Optima Fund Management, a hedge fund associated with Ukranian metals group Metinvest, had submitted potential bids to operate the now-closed Sparrows Point facility.

Domestic steelmaker Nucor was also identified as submitting a bid for Sparrows Point.

Four asset groups are being offered for sale by bankrupt RG Steel: the Sparrows Point steel mill, the Warren steel mill, the assets of Wheeling Corrugating Co., and the other Wheeling assets.