href='mailto:Headlines@abiworld.org?subject=Subscribe me to the ABI
Headlines Direct'>
src='/AM/Images/headlines/headline.gif' />
September 24,
2007
name='1'>Legislation Aims to Protect Worker’s Wages and
Benefits in Chapter 11
House Judiciary Committee Chair
John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) plans to introduce a bill tomorrow that would
make it harder for companies under bankruptcy protection to slash the
wages and benefits of rank-and-file workers, Dow Jones News reported
today. The bill, titled the 'Protecting Employees and Retirees in
Business Bankruptcies Act of 2007,' highlights a reaction in Congress to
criticism that current laws allow top executives of bankrupt companies
to collect millions in pay and bonuses while cutting workers’
wages and benefits. Conyers had introduced a bill last year that was
also aimed at protecting workers at bankrupt companies. However, it
failed to make it out of the House and Senate judiciary committees
before the then-Republican-controlled Congress broke for election
recess.
Mortgage
Lending
name='2'>Wilbur Ross Bids for Mortgage Firm's Service
Unit
Wilbur L. Ross Jr., who became
a billionaire by investing in bankrupt steel companies, offered to pay
at least $435 million for a unit of American Home Mortgage Investment
Corp. and said he plans to 'get into all aspects of the mortgage
industry,' Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. Ross formed AH Mortgage
Acquisition Co. to buy bankrupt American Home's servicing unit,
which collects payments and maintains escrow accounts for about $57
billion in home loans. Ross compared the state of the mortgage industry
to the opportunities he saw in steel and auto parts five years ago. Ross
said he intends to use servicing as a base from which to expand and
would get into home lending after 'a while.' He said he anticipates
making other acquisitions.
href='http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/09/22/king_of_bankruptcy_bids_for_mortgage_firms_service_unit?mode=PF'>Read
more.
name='3'>HSBC to Close Subprime Unit
HSBC Holdings Plc,
Europe's biggest bank, said on Friday that it would close its U.S.
subprime mortgage unit, cutting 750 jobs and taking $945 million in
charges and write-downs because the business is no longer sustainable,
Reuters reported on Friday. HSBC Finance, the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S. consumer
finance arm of HSBC, said the closure of Decision One Mortgage would
result in people losing their jobs at offices in
w:st='on'>Fort
Mill
size='3'>S.C.,
size='3'>Phoenix
size='3'>and
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Charlotte
size='3'>, N.C
record an impairment charge of about $880 million, reflecting a
write-down of Decision One assets on its books. It also will incur about
$65 million in after-tax charges for restructuring, which includes
employee termination benefits and facility closures.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092100585.html'>Read
more.
Funds to Appeal Bankruptcy Ruling
Two Bear Stearns Cos.
hedge funds registered in the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Cayman Islands
size='3'>are looking to put on hold Bankruptcy Judge
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Burton Lifland's
size='3'>Aug. 30 ruling requiring the funds to re-file for chapter 11 or
chapter 7, rather than chapter 15, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.
'The only adhesive connection with the Cayman Islands that the funds
have is the fact that they're registered there,' Judge Lifland said,
noting that their management and the bulk of their assets were in
the
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>US
Stearns is the fifth-largest United States
size='3'>investment firm by market value. Its hedge funds filed for
liquidation in the
size='3'>Cayman Islands on July 31.
That same day, the funds filed petitions in
w:st='on'>
York for protection under
chapter 15. The funds notified Lifland on
Sept. 10 of their intent to appeal his ruling. Judge Lifland will
consider whether to halt enforcement of his ruling at a hearing
scheduled for today.
href='http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-3655--30-30--.html'>Read
more.
Auto
Workers Set Strike Deadline in Talks with GM
Bargainers for the United
Automobile Workers union and General Motors are trying to reach a
settlement in contentious contract talks as they approach an 11 a.m. ET
strike deadline today, according to a New York Times report
today. GM’s 73,000 workers began returning to factories around
the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>United
States
morning as scheduled, but were prepared to walk off the job when told to
leave by their union. Negotiations continued after the unexpected move
by the union late Sunday night. Until then, the UAW had extended its
contract on an hour-by-hour basis, and the union’s president, Ron
Gettelfinger, told workers in a memo last week that the UAW hoped to
avoid a strike against GM But the union, in a statement early today,
said it had set the strike deadline because GM had failed to address job
security and other “mandatory issues of bargaining,” which
it did not name.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/24cnd-auto.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Asbestos
name='6'>Mediator Appointed over Asarco Asbestos
Claims
Bankruptcy Judge
Richard Schmidt
appointed Judge
size='3'>Elizabeth Magner to mediate the
long-standing dispute over asbestos-related personal injury claims in
the bankruptcy case of Asarco LLC,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported on Friday.
Asarco's subsidiaries face more than 95,000 asbestos-related claims
estimated to cost potentially as much as $25 million. Asarco also urged
the bankruptcy court to quash a $68 million claim by
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Texas officials for
environmental damage to the state's coast allegedly caused the
company's
size='3'>Corpus
size='3'>Chris
size='3'>ti facility, which
processed mineral ore in the production of zinc. The company has until
Nov. 12 to file its reorganization plan and until Jan. 14 to solicit
approval from its creditors.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=35594'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='7'>W.R. Grace Loses Appeal in Asbestos Mine
Case
A federal appeals court
yesterday dealt a substantial blow to
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Columbia
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Md.
maker W.R. Grace, reviving conspiracy and environmental charges against
the company for operating an asbestos-laden mine, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Washington Post
size='3'>reported on Friday. Prosecutors accuse Grace of knowingly
endangering residents of
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Libby
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Mont.
three decades by exposing them to asbestos fibers. Environmental studies
suggest that the death rate from asbestos-related disease in the
mountain-enclosed valley is more than 40 times the national
average. Last year, a federal judge threw
out several charges and excluded evidence critical to the government's
case after defense lawyers argued that prosecutors had waited too long
to file criminal charges. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reinstated many of the claims against
Grace on Thursday and a half-dozen former executives.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092002541.html'>Read
more.
name='8'>Advanced Marketing Services Files Amended
Plan
Advanced Marketing
Services Inc. filed its first amended plan of liquidation on Thursday,
calling for the debtors to continue winding down their businesses and
merge with fellow debtors Publishers Group Inc. and Publishers Group
West Inc., Bankruptcy
Law360 reported Friday. The reorganized AMS
will then be liquidated by a plan administrator, who will have the
powers of chief executive and sole director of the restructured AMS, and
will be responsible for pursuing the sale and/or recovery of all the
estates and the reorganized company, says the first amended plan. AMS
filed the first version of its restructuring plan on Aug. 24.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=35613'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='9'>Calpine Shareholders Seek to Delay Bankruptcy
Vote
Calpine Corp.
shareholders say that the bankrupt
w:st='on'>
size='3'>California
producer's value is undetermined and a hearing on a document outlining
its plan to emerge from court protection should be delayed, Bloomberg
News reported on Friday. Bankruptcy Judge Burton
Lifland set a hearing for Sept. 25 in
w:st='on'>
York bankruptcy court on
Calpine's disclosure statement. The equityholders' committee said in
court papers filed Thursday that it wants a delay because Calpine may
revise its projections on the company's value just days before the Nov.
27 voting deadline. Calpine and its advisers currently estimate that its
reorganized business will be worth $20.3 billion. The equity committee
has said that Calpine underestimated its value, while the committee
representing unsecured creditors said the
w:st='on'>
Jose
size='3'>based company's value may have fallen by $1.3 billion since
June.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a3FxOUVTl5yw&refer=energy'>Read
more.
International
name='10'>Northern Rock May Point to
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.K.
size='3'>Crunch
The immediate danger for
depositors of British mortgage lender Northern Rock may have passed, but
the company's troubles highlight a greater threat ahead: the broader
impact of the global credit crunch on the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>United Kingdom
size='3'>'s housing market and the world's fifth-largest economy,
the Wall Street
Journal reported today. The Northern Rock
episode illustrates how the credit turmoil that began with risky
mortgages in the
size='3'>U.S. could be
setting the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.K.
for a fall. As with Northern Rock, many mortgage lenders are having
difficulties getting the money they need to keep lending, a factor that
could destabilize a
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.K.
size='3'>housing market that already appears to be reaching the end of a
boom. As of July, total mortgage debt in the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.K.
reached £1.1 trillion ($2.2 trillion), more than double the level
of 10 years earlier and equivalent to more than 80 percent of annual
gross domestic product. In the first quarter of this year, U.K.
homeowners tapped their home equity for about £13.2 billion, or 6.1
percent of disposable income- an indication of how much rising home
prices have been raising consumer spending, which makes up about
two-thirds of the U.K. economy.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119058413986236614.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='11'>TROUBLED COMPANIES IN THE NEWS
The business news
articles below are taken from the U.S. Business Journal’s Daily
Summary of Troubled & Fast Growing U.S. Companies which is published
by Bastien Financial Publications.
size='3'>ABI
size='3'>Members receive a 50% discount off of our regular subscription
rate of $500 when subscribing to the complete Daily Summary.
/>
To subscribe email steve@creditnews.com
title='mailto:steve@creditnews.com'
href='mailto:steve@creditnews.com'>
color='#0000ff'
size='3'><mailto:steve@creditnews.com>
size='3'>or call 800-407-9044—use
w:st='on'>
size='3'>ABI
37
Electroglas Inc., a
Jose
systems for semiconductor manufacturing, reported a first quarter net
loss of $3.3 million, on a 22% revenue decline–to $10.5 million.
Finish Line Inc., an
w:st='on'>Indianapolis
apparel and footwear, has been sued by Genesco Inc. in an attempt to
force Finish Line and its bank, UBS Financial Services Inc., to close on
Finish Line’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Genesco..
Harman International Industries
Inc.’s buyout deal has collapsed, after buyout firm
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and a private-equity unit of Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. backed off their leveraged-buyout agreement to purchase
the maker of high-end audio equipment for $8 billion. At one point,
Harman’s stock price sank as much as 24% on the news. The
suitors, blaming a “a material adverse change” in
Harman’s situation, said they were no longer under any obligation
to complete the deal. Harman disputed the charges of
“material” changes and a legal wrangle may ensue if Harman
tries to force KKR and Goldman to go through with the deal.
Home Depot Inc.,
w:st='on'>Atlanta
close eleven of its Landscape Supply stores in the
w:st='on'>
w:st='on'>Ga.
11/31, cutting nearly 380 employees from its payroll.
HSBC Holdings PLC of the
shutter its Decision One
Mortgage unit in the
w:st='on'>U.S.
its home-lending operations on this side of the
w:st='on'>Atlantic
business with operations in the Carolinas and
w:st='on'>
result in the loss of 750 jobs and force HSBC to take $880 million in
goodwill impairment costs and after-tax charges of $65 million for
restructuring and layoff costs.
Tribune Co., which has seen
publishing revenue in August decline more than 6%–to $271 million
as advertising revenue declined more than 7%, saw its overall revenue
for the month decline more than 5%–to $390 million. Revenue
at the
broadcasting and entertainment operations fell 3%–to $120
million.