Billionaire investor Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners LLC is appealing a bankruptcy court ruling that derailed his proposal to reorganize LightSquared by canceling a $2.4 billion claim by a group of competing creditors and splitting the company in two, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. When Falcone’s effort failed, creditors including Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen reached a deal on a new chapter 11 proposal that would give Ergen 60 percent of the equity in a reorganized LightSquared. Harbinger, LightSquared’s current controlling shareholder, filed a notice of appeal yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, indicating a district court judge in New York will be asked to review the Oct. 30 decision. LightSquared, based in Reston, Va., has been in bankruptcy for more than two years as the company and its lead creditors argue over the best way to reorganize. The company previously narrowed three plans to one, only to be rebuffed by the bankruptcy judge. The new Ergen-led deal, which also gives equity to lender JPMorgan Chase & Co., was the result of all-day mediation on Oct. 31 with a federal judge in Manhattan, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman said at a Nov. 3 hearing.
