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December 28, 2005
id='1'>Regulators Question Transfers of Assets at Refco
Securities
U.S. regulators threatened to begin liquidation proceedings for a
regulated unit of Refco Inc. that isn't under bankruptcy-court
protection, expressing 'serious concern' about asset transfers that unit
has made recently, according to a Dow Jones Newswire report yesterday.
The threat, disclosed Monday by Refco in documents filed in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, came from the Securities and Exchange
Commission and the Securities Investor Protection Corp., an agency
chartered by Congress to help customers of securities brokers get their
money back. Refco said concerns were fanned by transfers of assets that
Refco Securities LLC, the unit that isn't in bankruptcy proceedings,
made recently to Refco Capital Markets Ltd. Some of those transfers were
made under court order, but Refco said it may have inadvertently
exceeded its authority in other cases. Refco Securities, which has $100
million in regulatory capital, has 550 customer accounts containing
about $14 million. The unit has been 'winding down' its operations since
Refco filed for chapter 11 protection on Oct. 17.
id='2'>Enron's Causey Nears a Plea Bargain
Former Enron Corp.
chief accounting officer Richard Causey is expected to plead guilty to
one or more criminal charges in federal court in Houston today, a move
with a potentially major impact on the cases against his co-defendants,
former company Chairman Kenneth Lay and former President Jeffrey
Skilling, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A hearing is
scheduled
for today in front of Judge Sim Lake, who is presiding over the case,
where Mr. Causey is expected to change his plea. Causey, Skilling and
Lay face conspiracy, fraud and other charges in connection with alleged
accounting and financial misdeeds at Enron, which collapsed into
bankruptcy proceedings in late 2001. The three are currently scheduled
to have a jury trial in Houston beginning on Jan. 17. Daniel Petrocelli,
Skilling's lead attorney, says that he would request a delay of as
long as two months in the start of the trial if Causey changes his
plea.
id='3'>Deadline Looms for Delta Pilots to OK Deal
Delta Air Lines
Inc. pilots have until today to approve a tentative agreement on
temporary pay cuts their union worked out with management to help the
bankrupt carrier deal with an expected cash crunch, the Associated Press
reported yesterday. If the pilots don't approve the measure, a court
hearing would resume around Jan. 2 on Delta's effort to reject the pilot
contract so the company can impose $325 million in permanent pay and
benefit cuts unilaterally. The cuts would be on top of $1 billion in
annual concessions Delta pilots agreed to in a five-year deal reached in
2004, which included a 32.5 percent pay cut. The pilots can change their
votes any time before 3 p.m. EST today. Delta, which has lost more than
$11 billion over the last five years, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in New York on Sept. 14. Last week, it asked the court for a
six-month extension to exclusively file its reorganization plan, which
is due Jan. 12.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Delta-Pilots.html'>Read
more.
id='4'>Survey: Consumers Won't Buy from Bankrupt Car Maker
Nearly
three-quarters of Americans wouldn't buy a car from a bankrupt company,
according to a recent survey, the Associated Press reported today. In a
nationwide survey by the Cincinnati-based research firm Directions
Research Inc. published Friday, only 26 percent of respondents said they
would purchase or lease a new car from a manufacturer that had declared
bankruptcy. General Motors Corp. lost nearly $5 billion in its North
American automotive business in the first nine months of 2005, and
speculation has mounted among investors that the auto maker may
eventually be forced to file for chapter 11 protection, although company
executives have denied they consider bankruptcy an option. The survey
data indicate that consumer attitudes toward a bankrupt auto maker would
differ significantly from those toward airlines that have filed for
chapter 11. The survey polled 1,063 randomly selected adults during the
three weeks ending on Dec. 14.
id='5'>Creditors Looking to Force Indiana Welding Company into
Bankruptcy
Creditors of
Interstate Welding & Fabrication Inc. in Terre Haute, Ind., have filed a
petition to force the company into chapter 7 in hopes of collecting
outstanding bills, the Tribune Star reported yesterday. Attorneys
for
three separate companies filed the petition Dec. 6 in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana collectively
seeking $240,300. 'We are actively seeking and have had some dialogue
with purchasers of the facility to possibly keep it open, but nothing is
for sure,' said Bob Bosar, CEO of Interstate Welding. Creditors include
Atlas ABC Corp., Maverick Tube Corp. and Independence Tube Corp.
href='http://www.tribstar.com/articles/2005/12/27/news/local_and_bistate/lb03.txt'>Read
more.
id='6'>Select Comfort Extends Relationship with GE Consumer
Finance
Bed retailer Select
Comfort Corporation announced yesterday it has a five-year agreement to
extend
its consumer financing arrangement with GE Consumer Finance, Retail
Sales
Finance, a consumer lending unit of the General Electric Co.,
according to a company press release. The agreement extends an existing
agreement that dates back to 1999. Under terms of the agreement, GE will
manage the risk management, collections and payment processing functions
for qualified buyers of the company's Sleep Number bed and accessories
that elect to finance their purchases.
href='http://finanzen.net/news/news_detail.asp?NewsNr=360816'>Read
more.
id='7'>New York Racing Association Headed for Bankruptcy
The New York Racing
Association (NYRA), which has been vocal about financial problems, has
said it simply does not have enough money to get through the end of the
year, CBS6Albany.com reported today. Efforts to raise money have not
gone forward, prompting speculation that a chapter 11 filing might be
the last hope to keep NYRA in business. There has been an ongoing battle
between NYRA and the state as to who owns the Aqueduct, Belmont and
Saratoga race tracks. While the state claims ownership, NYRA has been
paying taxes on the property since the '50s. NYRA President Charley
Hayward claims the land is worth upwards of $2 billion.
id='8'>Boyds Bears Bankruptcy Plan Approved
A federal
bankruptcy judge has approved a $1.8 million bonus to keep executives at
Boyds Collection Ltd. on the job while the teddy-bear maker is in
bankruptcy, NewsMax.com newswires reported yesterday. Judge Duncan Keir
of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore signed off Thursday on the plan
covering seven key employees, including the company's chief executive
and chief financial officer, who could receive a total of about $1
million in retention payments. The plan also includes a severance plan,
which the Gettysburg, Pa.-based company said would 'stem attrition' and
relieve the anxiety of key management personnel. Boyds said there's
'significant risk' that without the retention plan, the key employees
would begin seeking other employment. Boyds filed for chapter 11
protection on Oct. 16, listing $66.93 million in assets and $101.7
million in debts.
id='9'>Bankruptcy May Ground Air Tanker Firm
In the three years
since two of its large fire-retardant bombers broke up in mid-flight,
Wyoming's Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc. has gone from being one of the
country's largest aerial firefighting firms to the brink of bankruptcy,
the Associated Press reported today. It has lost key government
contracts for the use of most of its heavy air tankers and essentially
has been forced from a business it helped pioneer. With what may be its
final refurbushing job - fixing up a C-130 under a military contract -
only a few weeks from completion and no buyer for the company committed,
maintenance director Tim Mikus and other employees are weighing job
offers and hold only dim hopes that the doors will stay open.
href='http://www.insidebayarea.com/businessnews/ci_3346899'>Read
more.
id='10'>Interstate Bakeries Complaint Filed
Interstate Bakeries
filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court a verified adversary complaint that
asserts causes of action against American Bakers Association Retirement
Plan, the American Bakers Association Retirement Trust (the ABA Trust)
and four trustees of the ABA trust, BankruptcyData.com reported today.
The verified complaint seeks 'equitable relief against the defendants to
prevent the improper transfer of $27 million of plan assets pending a
determination from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.'
International
id='11'>Russia Tapped Oil Fund for $1B to Pay Pensions
Russia withdrew
more than $1 billion this month from the $43 billion stabilization fund
that gathers windfall oil revenues and used the money to pay pensions,
Gennady Batanov, the head of the state pension fund, said on Tuesday,
according to a
Reuters report yesterday. Batanov said the pension fund needed cash
urgently because it could not turn around its December revenues to pay
Russia's 16.5 million pensioners before the country shuts down for a
10-day New Year holiday. According to the 2005 budget, the pension fund
is authorised to tap the oil fund for an amount of up to 111 billion
roubles ($3.85 billion). Russia's pension fund, based on a Soviet-style
pay-as-you-go system, expects to run a deficit of 94 billion roubles
($3.26 billion) in 2006, and its problems could steadily worsen as the
active population goes into decline.
href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=112896+27-Dec-2005+RTRS&srch=pensions'>Read
more.