href='mailto:Headlines@abiworld.org?subject=Subscribe me to the ABI
Headlines Direct'>
src='/AM/Images/headlines/headline.gif' />
October
19, 2007
name='1'>Banks’ Plan to Help Credit Markets Struggles to Get
Off the Ground
Though the plan is still
being developed, the roughly $75 billion effort to snap up troubled
securities is struggling to get off the ground only a few days after it
was launched by the country’s three biggest banks with the support
of the Treasury Department, the
size='3'>New York Times reported today.
Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are just beginning to
hammer out the details of the plan as bank regulators are aware of the
discussions but some say they are out of the loop. Market participants
are also puzzled with investors like Pimco and T. Rowe Price balking at
buying in. The Treasury-supported proposal for the industry, however,
provides a framework for a new fund to purchase assets held by
structured investment vehicles, that have been pressured since the
credit market meltdown this summer. It is intended to help the banks
backing such vehicles avoid bringing those risky loans onto their
balance sheets and to spare investors — including money market
funds — distress.
size='3'>All three banks agree on the concept but differ on the
details.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/business/19place.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Real Estate
name='2'>Burned by Downturn in Market, Some Real Estate Investors
Just Walk Away from Properties
Many investors who were
hoping to quickly flip their investments are now left with homes that
can no longer be sold for more than the mortgage debt, leaving them,
according to lenders and real-estate agents, to make the decision to
walk away from their properties and ultimately send their homes into
foreclosure, the Wall
Street Journal reported yesterday. In many
cases, these investors can't even find tenants willing to pay enough
rent to cover hefty mortgages. According to an August study by the
Mortgage Bankers Association, defaults on mortgages where the owner
doesn't live in the house are a major driver of the defaults in
size='3'>Florida
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Nevada
w:st='on'>
size='3'>California
size='3'>Arizona
of the states with the fastest rising rates of seriously delinquent
loans. 'There is a real incentive for both lenders and borrowers alike
to do a workout and avoid foreclosure. Lenders are not good at being
homeowners,' says Fred Witt, national director of real estate tax
services, at Deloitte Tax LLP in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Phoenix
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119266868024662861.html?mod=pj_main_hs_coll'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
w:st='on'>
name='3'>New
Jersey
size='3'> Real Estate Firm Files for Chapter
11
Medford Crossings North
LLC and nine other companies controlled by New Jersey real estate
developers Mitchell R. Cohen and Carl Freedman filed for chapter 11
protection Wednesday, the Associated Press reported yesterday. In
separate petitions filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
size='3'>Camden
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.J.
Crossings and its affiliates each listed assets in the range of $100,000
to $1 million and debts in the range of $1 million to $100 million. In
addition to Medford Crossings North, the following entities filed for
chapter 11 protection:
size='3'>Medford Crossings
size='3'>South LLC, Purple Tree One
LLC, Purple Tree Two LLC, Purple Tree Three LLC, Purple Tree Four LLC,
Purple Tree Five LLC, Purple Tree Ten LLC, Purple Tree Investments LLC,
and FC Medford Residential LLC. The
face='Times New 

Roman'
size='3'>Cherry Hill
companies each estimated that they have fewer than 50 creditors, and
said they expect to have enough funds to make payments to unsecured
creditors.
href='http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071018/medford_crossings_bankruptcy.html?.v=1'>Read
more.
name='4'>American Home Asset
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Sale Permitted to
Go Forward
Bankruptcy Judge
size='3'>Chris
size='3'>topher Sontchi denied requests from
GMAC Mortgage LLC and other parties to postpone the sale of American
Home Mortgage Holdings Inc.’s servicing platform,
face='Times 

New Roman'
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
Judge Sontchi on Monday approved an agreement between American Home and
the servicing platform buyer, AH Mortgage Acquisition, and Fannie Mae.
The agreement settled a dispute between the debtors and Fannie Mae over
the servicing of its loans after the sale of the portfolio was
completed. The same day, American Home filed a motion with the
bankruptcy court asking approval for the sale of its Ginnie Mae
portfolio of loans to MidFirst Bank. American Home also asked the court
to shorten the time to hear the motion and requested an Oct. 23
hearing.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=37827'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='5'>Bear Stearns Draws Probe from
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Massachusetts
size='3'>Securities Regulators
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Massachusetts
size='3'>securities regulators are investigating whether Bear Stearns
Cos. improperly traded with two in-house hedge funds that collapsed this
summer, saddling investors with added losses, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Wall Street Journal
size='3'>reported today. Regulators in the office of Secretary of State
William F. Galvin specifically are examining whether Bear Stearns traded
mortgage-backed securities for its own account with the hedge funds
without notifying the funds' independent directors in advance.
Investigators are attempting to determine whether the trades were priced
fairly and whether troubled securities positions were offloaded onto
investors in the two funds, among other things, people familiar with the
probe said. Such mortgage securities are priced by dealers who do not
publish quotes; it's often difficult to determine their market values.
The failure of the two mortgage-related funds, Bear Stearns High-Grade
Structured Credit Strategies Fund and High-Grade Structured Credit
Enhanced Leverage Fund, cost investors $1.6 billion. The state believes
it has standing on behalf of
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Massachusetts
size='3'>investors in the funds.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119275626127164343.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
w:st='on'>
name='6'>U.S.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'> Trustee Balks at Calpine Legal
Fees
U.S. Trustee
Diana Adams
size='3'>objected to the interim request for $48.7 million in fees and
$2.3 million in expenses in a court filing Wednesday in
size='3'>New York
Bloomberg News reported yesterday. About
$200 million has been paid to lawyers and other professionals since
Calpine filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2005. Fees based on
progress in Calpine's case would be premature before a confirmation
hearing to approve the company's reorganization plan is held Dec.
18,
size='3'>Adams
debtors' reported losses of over $2.5 billion, confirmation is not
guaranteed,' she said. Calpine filed the largest bankruptcy of 2005 and
is seeking approval of a plan that values its reorganized business at
about $20.3 billion.
name='7'>Werners Protest Creditors Liquidation Plan
Two members of the
founding family behind Werner Holding Co. Inc. are urging the bankruptcy
judge to deny the second amended liquidation plan put forth by the
unsecured creditors’ committee over the committee's intention to
consolidate the bankrupt ladder maker's various estates,
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360
size='3'>reported yesterday. The Werners voiced further concern over the
plan's alleged failure to pay for all administrative claims, echoing a
similar protest lodged by the U.S. Trustee earlier in the case. The
Werners also argued in the filing that the plan incorrectly seeks to
predetermine the legal effect of certain actions and unfairly tries to
put certain obligations on the Werners and other employees who may be
targeted in future litigation.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=37844'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Gallery Discloses Possible Accounting Error
Movie Gallery Inc. is
looking into a possible accounting error connected with the company's
acquisition of Hollywood Video, after having been notified by Ernst
& Young LLP that Movie Gallery may have inappropriately netted the
deferred tax liability connected to the Hollywood Video trade name
against the company's deferred tax assets in fiscal 2005,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. The issue is still being reviewed by
Ernst & Young to determine if an accounting error actually occurred,
and Movie Gallery has not yet had the chance to review the auditor's
findings. Movie Gallery also said that even if an error had occurred and
a restatement of financial statements is necessary, “this is a
solely noncash financial statement matter” that would not
affect financial covenants, cash flows, tax returns or tax
attributes.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=37869'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='9'>Lionel Bankruptcy Hearing Delayed
Bankruptcy Judge
Burton R. Lifland
postponed a key hearing on Lionel LLC's exit from
bankruptcy, as talks to settle a lengthy trade-secrets battle intensify
between the model-train maker and MTH Electric Trains, the Associated
Press reported yesterday. The delay comes as MTH, whose trade-secrets
lawsuit forced Lionel into bankruptcy nearly three years ago, said the
two competitors have made 'substantial progress' in reaching a
settlement. In court papers filed by MTH bankruptcy lawyers, the amount
of MTH's claim against Lionel in the chapter 11 case 'was resolved in
early July 2007' and the only thing holding up a settlement is a spat
over the future use of some model-train technology.
href='http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/10/18/ap4237173.html'>Read
more.
name='10'>Judge Postpones KPMG Trial
A federal judge
disqualified a defense lawyer for a former partner at KPMG in the
government’s high-profile tax shelter case yesterday, a surprise
twist on the eve of a trial that has now been postponed indefinitely,
the New York
Times reported today. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
of
size='3'>Federal District Court
size='3'>in
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Manhattan
disqualified Steven M. Bauer, who had represented John
Larson, a former KPMG partner, stating that Bauer had a conflict of
interest because he previously represented a colleague of Larson’s
in the same case. In his order, Judge Kaplan indefinitely postponed the
trial of Larson and three remaining defendants, which was expected to
start on Tuesday. Larson was among 19 individuals, including 17 from the
accounting firm KPMG, who were indicted in 2005 on charges of fraud, tax
evasion and conspiracy involving the creation and sale of questionable
tax shelters that authorities say kept at least $2.5 billion out of
government coffers.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/business/19kpmg.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
International
name='11'>South Korean Business Bankruptcies Fall
The number of South
Korean corporate bankruptcies in September dropped to their lowest
levels since the central bank started keeping statistical records 17
years ago, the Wall
Street Journal reported today. The fall to 138
such bankruptcies from 194 in August occurred as the maturity dates of
nonpayment were delayed to October because of the Korean Chusok holiday,
the Bank of Korea said Thursday. The manufacturing sector showed the
largest decrease in bankruptcies last month, to 43 compared with 69 in
August. In the services sector, 61 bankruptcies were filed in September,
down from 76. In the construction sector, 30 bankruptcies were filed
last month, down from 43 in August. Separately, the central bank said
the number of start-up companies nationwide fell to 3,202 last month
from 4,298 in August.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119273332712263743.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119273332712263743.html'>