AmeriServe
Files to
Reorganize
Bankrupt
restaurant supplier
AmeriServe
Food Distribution
Inc., which
has agreed to be
purchased
by the McLane Co. (a
unit
of Wal-Mart Stores
Inc.) Friday
filed a
reorganization plan
with the U.S.
bankruptcy court
in Wilmington, Del.,
according
to a newswire
report. Closely held AmeriServe provides food and other supplies
to several
large restaurant
chains, including
Pizza Hut and Long
John Silver's.
class=MsoNormal>AmeriServe,
based in the
Dallas suburb
of Addison, had
received
$150 million in
temporary
financing from two
of its
major customers,
Burger
King and Tricon
Global Restaurants
Inc., which owns
Pizza Hut,
KFC and Taco
Bell.
On
Thursday, Tricon
said it expected
that its
total future net
exposure
in connection with
the AmeriServe
bankruptcy would
be in the
range of $80
million to
$100 million.
class=MsoNormal>Singer
Emerges From
Chapter 11
style='font-weight:normal'>Singer
N.V. announced
that its
reorganization
plan became
effective
Thursday, marking
the company's
emergence
from its voluntary
chapter
11 proceeding,
according
to a newswire
report. The
company's plan had
previously
been approved by
more than
95 percent of
voting creditors
and on Aug. 24 had
been
confirmed by the
U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the
Southern District
of New York.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'>
Singer
filed chapter
11 on Sept. 12,
1999.
Pursuant to
the plan,
a new corporate
entity in
the Netherlands
Antilles,
Singer N.V., will
be the
parent company for
all Singer
businesses going
forward.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> New York-based Singer is the world's
leading
manufacturer and
distributor
of consumer sewing
machines
and is an
international
retailer and
distributor
of consumer
durable products,
doing business in
150 countries.
class=MsoNormal>General
Cinema Mulls
Bankruptcy,
Stock Drops 12
Percent
style='font-weight:normal'>Shares
of cinema operator
GC Companies
Inc. dropped as
much as
12 percent Friday
after
the company told
U.S. regulators
it was considering
bankruptcy
protection,
according to
a Reuters
report.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> Shares of the Chestnut Hill,
Mass.-based GC
Companies, the
operator
of General Cinema
Theatres,
dropped $1-1/16 to
$7-11/16
in Friday
afternoon trading
on the New York
Stock Exchange.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> The company's stock price has plunged
nearly
80 percent in
recent months.
Besides
considering
bankruptcy
protection, GC
Companies Inc.
also said
it would sell
company assets,
close unprofitable
theaters
or restructure,
the SEC
filing stated. GC
Companies
operates more than
1,000
U.S. movie
screens, including
megaplexes whose
construction
costs have weighed
heavily
on the company's
financial
performance. The
company
reported a $10.1
million
loss for the third
quarter,
which ended July
31 with
revenue of $108.6
million.
class=MsoNormal>Three
Kuala Nursing Home
Subsidiaries
File Under Chapter
11
Kuala Healthcare
Inc. Friday
announced that
three of
its subsidiaries,
which
operate nursing
homes in
Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.,
have filed for
chapter 11,
according to a
newswire
report.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'>
Kuala
itself is not
involved in the
filings.
The nursing
homes were
undergoing cash
flow problems
similar to the
experiences
of many other
nursing homes
in the
industry.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> The immediate cause of the filings
was a refusal
of a mortgage
lender to
release funds,
which had
been paid into a
lock box.
On Sept.
11, the
subsidiaries were
notified
because of
violations to
the mortgage
agreements,
the mortgage
holder would
not release the
remainder
of the funds held
in the
lock boxes.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> This notice came shortly after a
major payment
from a Medicaid
servicer
with regard to one
of the
nursing homes
failed to
arrive due to a
technical
difficulty
encountered by
the Medicaid
servicer.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> Shortly after the filing, the
Bankruptcy Court
directed that
$500,000 be
released to the
nursing
homes.
class=MsoNormal>Paracelus
Healthcare Files
Chapter
11
style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
Paracelsus
Healthcare
Corp. Friday filed
a voluntary
Chapter 11
bankruptcy petition
and a
reorganization plan
for a capital
restructuring
in the United
States Bankruptcy
Court for the
Southern District
of Texas,
according to a
newswire
report.
The
Houston-based
company said the
petition
is limited to
itself as
a parent company
and doesn't
include any of its
hospital
units, which are
expected
to continue paying
all wages,
benefits and other
employee
obligations, as
well as
outstanding and
ongoing
accounts payable
to contractors
and vendors.
style='mso-spacerun:
yes'> The hospitals will remain open.
ORBCOMM Lists
Assets,
Debts in
Bankruptcy Filing
ORBCOMM Global
LP and
six affiliates
sought chapter
11 bankruptcy
protection
Friday and listed
assets
of $403.6 million
and debts
of $259.0 million,
according
to a Reuters
report.
The Dulles,
Va.-based
satellite company
is a joint
venture of Orbital
Sciences
Corp. and
Teleglobe Inc.
ORBCOMM
said it had
obtained an
agreement for
$17 million in
debtor-in-possession
(DIP) financing
from a Teleglobe
affiliate, pending
court
approval. The
company plans
to continue normal
business
operations, cut
costs, and
simplify its
distribution
system.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'>
Teleglobe
and Orbital
have also said
they are
prepared to
convert their
outstanding debt
into equity
in ORBCOMM as part
of a
new equity
investment.
Its debts include
$170
million in
unsecured 14
percent senior
notes due
in 2004 with fewer
than
500 holders.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'>
The 20
largest unsecured
creditors are
primarily
bondholders, with
trustees
or advisors for
the top
claims being
Morgan Stanley,
New York, $27.2
million;
J.& W.
Seligman, New
York, $27.0
million; and
Oppenheimer Funds,
New York,
$24.0 million.
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt'>Bond-Funded
Illinois
Incinerator to
be Shut Down
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:
normal'>Robbins Resource Recovery Partners, a troubled bond-financed
waste-to-energy
incinerator in
Robbins,
Ill., Friday
announced it
would shut down
temporarily,
according to a
newswire
report.
style='mso-spacerun:
yes'>
Scott Cousins, an attorney for Robbins Resource Recovery
Partners,
told
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt'>Judge
Ronald
Barliant that bondholders had consented to the suspension of
operations
at the facility
while efforts
are undertaken to
sell and
reconfigure the
facility.
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt'>
Foster Wheeler
Corp., the
facility's
operator, last
month set a 60-day
deadline
for the
incinerator to cease
operations if it
did not
pay its bills
submitted
by Foster Wheeler.
Thomas
O'Brien, Robbins
Resource
Recovery senior
vice president
and general
counsel, said
the company
supported the
move to shut it
down.
The
restructuring
was part of a
subsequent
bankruptcy filing
by Robbins
Resource Recovery,
which
had been a
subsidiary of
Foster Wheeler but
split
off from it at the
time
of the bankruptcy
proceeding.
