August 182003

Submitted by webadmin on Mon, 2003-08-18 00:00

August 18, 2003

Family Farmer Bankruptcy Relief Act of 2003 Signed Into
Law

The Family Farmer Bankruptcy Relief Act of 2003 (H.R. 2465, S.
1323), which expired on July 1, was signed into law by President Bush on
Friday, Aug.15. The bill will retroactively renew and extend family
farmer bankruptcy protection until Jan. 1, 2004. A provision in H.R.
975, passed by the House in March, would expand the law’s coverage
and make it permanent.

Effort Announced to Mediate Asbestos Bill Sen. Arlen Specter
(R-Pa.) announced on Friday an effort to mediate disagreements remaining
over the establishment of a national asbestos compensation fund, Reuters
reported. Specter said he and federal appeals court judge Edward Becker
would meet next week in Philadelphia with representatives of labor,
industry, insurance companies and the trial lawyer community. Specter
said in a statement that the talks would be held Aug. 18-19 at the U.S.
Courthouse in Philadelphia. 'If necessary, Judge Becker has reserved the
balance of the week to continue the discussion,' the statement said,
reported the newswire.

Legislation establishing a fund of up to $153 billion to compensate
victims of asbestos, and take claims out of the courts, was narrowly
approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, reported Reuters.
The full Senate is expected to take up the bill later this year but its
passage is uncertain.

Charter Communications Drops $1.7 Billion Debt Sale as Yields
Rise

Charter Communications Corp. canceled a $1.7 billion debt refinancing
after rising bond yields made the borrowing too expensive, Bloomberg
News reported. 'A significant increase in the yield of the benchmark
10-year Treasury and mutual fund outflows over the past few weeks made
this transaction economically unattractive for the company,'' Charter
Chief Executive Carl Vogel said in a statement released on Thursday
after U.S. markets closed. St. Louis-based Charter was to sell
seven-year notes to yield about 10.125 percent, up from 9.25 percent to
9.5 percent it proposed earlier this week. The company was also offering
10-year notes to yield about 10.25 percent, up from the 9.375 percent to
9.625 percent previously offered.

Twinlab Plans to Sell Assets, May File for Bankruptcy

Twinlab Corp., a maker of vitamins and dietary supplements, is planning
to sell all of its businesses and may file for chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection because of declining

sales and its worsening financial condition, Bloomberg News reported.
Non-compliance with financial covenants related to a mortgage agreement
for a plant in Utah, and a possible default of its senior subordinated
notes, have deteriorated Twinlab's financial condition and raised doubt
about the company's ability to continue, Twinlab said in a regulatory
filing.

Lenders have told the Hauppauge, N.Y.-based company that they don't
plan to extend their waiver of non-compliance under Twinlab's revolving
credit line. That waiver expires on Aug. 27. Twinlab has classified
about $74.4 million in outstanding borrowings under its credit line,
mortgage and senior subordinated notes as current liabilities.

Horizon PCS Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Horizon PCS, an affiliate of mobile telephone carrier Sprint PCS, said
on Friday it has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Reuters
reported. The Chillicothe, Ohio-based company said in May that it did
not have sufficient liquidity to repay all of its loans or fund its
operations so it was seeking to restructure its debt. 'We believe the
bankruptcy process gives us the best opportunity to restructure our
debts and agreements, working cooperatively with our creditors and
negotiating with Sprint to develop equitable and appropriate solutions
that will allow our company to continue to operate,' Horizon Chief
Executive William McKell said in a statement, reported the newswire.

Microsoft Buys Rights to 3DO 'High Heat' Game

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it acquired the rights to the 'High Heat'
baseball video game franchise from bankrupt software publisher 3DO Co.,
Reuters reported. 3DO's assets were sold at a bankruptcy auction in San
Francisco on Thursday. When the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection on May 28, it said it would try to sell its assets. Microsoft
already has its own baseball game, 'Inside Pitch,' for its Xbox video
game console, but game critics have long considered 3DO's 'High Heat' as
the best among numerous competitors, reported the newswire.

Clift Hotel in San Francisco Files for Bankruptcy
Protection

The Clift Hotel in San Francisco filed for bankruptcy protection after
it couldn't reach a refinancing agreement with its bondholders,
Bloomberg News reported. The hotel's owners plan to pay debt holders in
full and could emerge from bankruptcy protection within 120 days, said
Mike Sitrick, a spokesman for Northstar Capital. 'After weeks of
discussion without resolution, we concluded that the best course of
action was to effectuate the refinancing and pay off the existing debt
holders in full through a court-supervised action,'' Sitrick said. The
chapter 11 filing for the hotel was made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New
York.

Malden Mills to Emerge From Bankruptcy

Malden Mills Industries Inc. said it will emerge from chapter 11
bankruptcy protection on Aug. 26, Bloomberg News reported. The company
will emerge intact, with all 1,200 of its employees based in Lawrence,
Mass., Methuen, Mass. and Hudson, N.H., said Malden Mills spokesman
David Costello. The company said its reorganization plan was confirmed
by Judge Joel B. Rosenthal of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester,
Mass. The plan contains a three-year buyback option for Malden Mill's
Chief Executive Aaron Feuerstein to retain control of the company,
reported the newswire.

Conseco Reorganization Plan Hearing Set for Sept. 9

Conseco Inc. plans to emerge next month provided a judge approves its
reorganization plan at a Sept. 9 hearing, Bloomberg News reported. Most
objections to the plan, including an objection by holders of $2 billion
in debt securities and an objection by

Conseco Chairman Gary Wendt, have been resolved. A dispute by the U.S.
Trustee to the settlement with the debt holders remains.

'We're hopeful that the settlement will be approved and that with
that approval the judge will then confirm the plan,'' said Daniel
Murray, an attorney representing the debt security holders, reported the
newswire. Conseco listed $52.3 billion in assets and $51.2 billion in
debts when it sought bankruptcy protection last December. The
reorganization plan would allow the company to reduce its debt by $5.7
billion, Bloomberg reported.

Jones Apparel Sees International Potential For Kasper's Anne
Klein

Jones Apparel Group Inc. hit the 'motherlode' with its winning bid
for bankrupt Kasper A.S.L. Ltd. and sees opportunities to build Kasper's
Anne Klein brand, Jones Apparel Chief Executive Peter Boneparth said
Thursday after a bankruptcy court approved the purchase. The $216.6
million transaction, which should close by year end, will occur through
a Kasper reorganization plan that will require approval of creditors and
bankruptcy court confirmation. Jones Apparel will buy Kasper for $204
million in cash and the assumption of $12.6 million of deferred
liabilities.

Qwest Won't File Results on Time

Qwest Communications International Inc. said it won't be able to file
its quarterly financial report on time because audited financial
restatements for 2000-2001 are still not done, the Associated Press
reported. Qwest has been the subject of federal investigations into
whether it artificially boosted revenue. In a Securities and Exchange
Commission filing, it said it is in the middle of reauditing its books.
In May, Qwest said it believed its net losses for 2000-2002 were $3.1
billion more than what had previously been disclosed, or $44.4 billion
for the three years. Qwest said it couldn't file the second-quarter
report for this year until it files audited restatements for 2000-2001
and results for 2002 and this year. Lenders have given Qwest until Sept.
30 to release its audited 2002 annual report and first-quarter
information for 2003, reported the newswire.

South Korea SK Global CEO Steps Down to Speed Reforms

The chief executive of South Korea's SK Global Co. stepped down on
Sunday to help a creditor-led restructuring of the troubled trading
firm, SK Group said, Reuters reported. Son Kil-seung's departure would
help accelerate an overhaul of the company, said a spokesman for the
conglomerate of which SK Global is a unit. 'His resignation is designed
to open the way for a fresh start with new management for SK Global,'
Bahng Ji-man, an SK Group spokesman, told Reuters. Creditors plan to
appoint new managers at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Sept.
9, he said, reported the newswire. Son will remain chief executive of SK
Telecom Co.

SK Global, a unit of the country's fourth-largest conglomerate, SK
Group, averted bankruptcy in July when foreign lenders agreed to sell
their debt to local creditors for less than half of its face value. The
deal opened the way to the restructuring of SK Global, rather than
possible liquidation, reported the newswire.

U.S. Lawyers to Seek Money for WorldCom Shareholders

Florida law firms are preparing to file arbitration claims against
Citigroup Inc. and its Smith Barney unit for hundreds of shareholders
who lost money in the WorldCom Inc. bankruptcy, an attorney told former
employees of WorldCom and its MCI unit on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Citigroup and Smith Barney defrauded shareholders of WorldCom and should
repay all their losses, attorney David Ennis told former workers for the
merged companies at a meeting in Tampa. 'If you owned WorldCom stock in
a Smith Barney account, you were defrauded,' Ennis said. 'We're here
today to try to get your money back.' WorldCom filed for bankruptcy in
July 2002, one month after its $11 billion accounting scandal broke. Its
stock lost almost all of its value, reported the newswire.

StarBand Files Bankruptcy Reorganization Plan

Satellite Internet company StarBand Communications Inc. on Friday filed
a reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware,
Reuters reported. The company said confirmation of the plan is expected
by the end of 2003. Starband filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
on May 31, 2002. The company said its capital structure has
significantly improved with the conversion of about $113 million of bank
debt to equity. In addition, about $90 million of debt to Gilat
Satellite Networks Ltd. will convert to equity and a $14 million
post-emergence note. StarBand and Gilat have also entered into a new
technology and hardware supply agreement including $7 million in
additional financing, reported the newswire.

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