Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman yesterday approved a $33 million loan from a group that includes Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen, to keep wireless venture LightSquared afloat as it tries to hash out a bankruptcy exit plan, Reuters reported yesterday. LightSquared's equity owner, Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, is fighting to keep control of the company in chapter 11. An investment vehicle owned by Ergen has bought up much of LightSquared's debt, while Dish offered and later withdrew a $2.2 billion offer to purchase the company's spectrum, an offer Harbinger did not accept. LightSquared, which had been on pace to run out of cash by March, needed a loan to be able to extend restructuring talks that could go past that.
