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December 21, 2005
name='1'>Calpine
Corp. Files for Chapter 11
U.S. power producer Calpine Corp. said that it filed for chapter 11
protection
yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of
New York
in Manhattan, according to Reuters. It said that many of its
subsidiaries
also filed for bankruptcy protection. Calpine said that it received
commitments
for up to $2 billion of secured debtor-in-possesssion financing from
Deutsche
Bank and Credit Suisse First Boston, who acted as joint lead
arrangers and
joint bookrunners. California energy market experts have suggested
that Calpine’s
bankruptcy would look in many ways like an airline
insolvency—workers
would keep working, facilities would keep running and operations
would not
be disrupted.
href='/pdfs/Calpine_Petition.pdf'>Read
the petition.
id='2'>Bankruptcy
Settlement for RFI Nears
An Arizona judge is
close
to approving a settlement in the bankruptcy case against the owner of
the former
Whittaker-Bermite property in Santa Clarita, Ariz., which has tied up
development
of the contaminated but valuable property in the city’s center
for years, a
court official said, the Los Angeles Daily News reported
today. Yesterday,
Judge Charles G. Case II at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in Phoenix
reviewed and resolved objections to Remediation Financial Inc.’s
proposed settlement,
including those filed by the city of Santa Clarita and the Castaic
Lake Water
Agency. While a ruling has not been issued, Case said that he will
approve the
settlement when an order is presented, which is expected today, said
Terry Miller,
bankruptcy court clerk.
href='http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_3328154'>Read
more.
id='3'>Criminal
Case Delays Allstate Financial Deposition
The Allstate
Financial Corp.
bankruptcy case was put on hold yesterday until Feb. 8,
CommercialAppeal.com
reported today. That’s when five of the principals in the
defunct investment
company are due in Criminal Court in Memphis, Tenn., to face charges
related
to the 2001 collapse of Allstate. Judge David Kennedy opted for the
delay after
lawyers argued for an hour over whether the criminal defendants and
others should
start giving depositions in the bankruptcy case. Their next court
appearance
is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 8. Attorney Ted Jones and lawyers for
others said
that their clients were likely to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights
against
self incrimination in refusing to answer questions.
href='http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_433…'>Read
more (free registration required).
id='4'>Proposal
Made in Legacy Bankruptcy
Creditors in the
Legacy Health
Care LLC bankruptcy have been offered a "significant"
settlement that
repays them 60 percent of the $8 million in claims in the case, the
Buffalo
Business Journal reported yesterday. Under the plan, the nursing
home company
and its former operator William Zacher will repay $5 million during
the course
of six years, or about 60 cents on the dollar, said Elizabeth Green,
the Florida
attorney representing Legacy. Green said that she is confident the
plan will
be approved by the creditors, who have until Jan. 7 to vote. Legacy
Health Care
filed for chapter 11 in February. Legacy operates Sheridan Manor in
Tonawanda,
N.Y., Ridgeview Manor in Buffalo, N.Y., and the combined Williamsville
View
Manor and Williamsville Suburban nursing facilities.
href='http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2005/12/19/daily22.html?…'>Read
more.
id='5'>Court
OKs Payments in Chi-Chi’s Hepatitis Case
Nearly 5,000 people
who got
inoculations to ward off hepatitis will be each mailed checks for
$162.23 next
month from Chi-Chi’s Inc., the bankrupt restaurant chain tied to
a food-poisoning
outbreak two years ago, the Associated Press reported today.
Chi-Chi’s will
pay $800,000 to those who had to get shots because they ate at a
Pittsburgh-area
restaurant during the outbreak or because they were closely related to
someone
who got sick. More than 600 people were sickened, and four eventually
died.
A federal judge in Delaware overseeing Chi-Chi’s bankruptcy
signed off on the
class-action settlement last week. Federal and state health officials
traced
the hepatitis outbreak to Mexican-grown green onions that
Chi-Chi’s used in
salsa and as a garnish. Chi-Chi’s had filed for bankruptcy
shortly before the
outbreak, citing cash flow problems. The chain and its insurers are
suing their
food suppliers to get reimbursed for settling the various lawsuits.
The company
sold all its restaurants to Outback Steakhouse Inc. last year.
International
id='6'>Customers
Compensated after Bankruptcy of Finnish Travel Agency
Finland’s
Consumer Agency
will notify customers of the bankrupt travel agency
Töölön Matkatoimisto
who have not as of yet received compensation for their cancelled trips
in January,
STT News Services reported yesterday. The agency received all in all
5,200 compensation
applications due to the bankruptcy of Töölön
Matkatoimisto. Most
of the customers have already been reimbursed through Nordea Finance,
a financing
company. The upcoming compensation sums will be taken from the
collateral paid
by the hapless travel agency. "The compensation paid from the
collateral
will cover 30-40 per cent of the price of the voyage," Merituuli
Kupiainen
of the Consumer Agency said yesterday.
id='7'>Cuts
in Wales Blamed on Delphi Bankruptcy
The bankruptcy of
its biggest
customer was today blamed for forcing a Mid-Wales company to
restructure its
workforce, leaving 60 people facing unemployment, the Shropshire
Star reported
yesterday. Floform Ltd. of Welshpool issued a statement explaining the
move
that has left its employees facing a bleak Christmas. Managing
director Mel
Dover said that “Floform Ltd. manufactures copper cored
electrodes for
spark plugs for many of the world’s manufacturers and Delphi
Corporation
of the USA is our largest customer by sales turnover.” He said
that Delphi
would not be making any further spark plugs after April 1, 2006.
“The
loss of this business will reduce our 2006 sales turnover by a
significant amount.
Regretfully, the plan for the future business means we will have to
implement
a major restructuring of the organisation including a significant
redundancy
program.” He said that all staff were at risk of redundancy and
the firm
was looking for volunteers.