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September 7, 2006
id='1'>Investors Say GM Owes Delphi $26 Billion
General Motors Corp. owes $26 billion to Delphi Corp., an investor
committee for the auto parts maker said in a bankruptcy court filing,
the Associated Press reported yesterday. The equity committee made the
assertion in a document to oppose a motion brought by Delphi's
bondholders that will be considered Sept. 14. Judge Robert
Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of
New York is scheduled to
consider a request from the creditors' committee as to whether it can
sue GM
and certain former Delphi executives. For its part, GM has filed an
unsecured multibillion-dollar claim against Delphi, the Troy,
Mich.-based supplier said in papers filed last month. The automaker
aided Delphi in funding buyout programs for members of its two biggest
unions, though it retained the right to recoup those contributions once
Delphi emerges from court protection.
href='http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060906/gm_delphi.html?.v=2'>Read
more.
name='2' id='2'>Bankruptcy Reform Slumps Worldwide,
World Bank
Charges
Calling the process
“more painful than it needs to be,” the World Bank Group has
blasted nations worldwide for failing to improve their
business-restructuring systems over the past year, Portfolio
Media reported yesterday. Yesterday, the bank—an arm of the
United Nations that is devoted to economic development—released
the results of its annual report studying the ease of doing business in
175 countries. In the study, the Bank expressed concern over the lack of
progress seen in many nations regarding restructuring procedures, long
considered an indicator of a country’s overall business climate.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=9664'>Read
more (subscription required).
id='3'>PBGC Takes Over Oneida Pension Plan
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) said yesterday that it has
taken responsibility for a pension plan covering nearly 1,900 workers
and retirees of Oneida Ltd., a designer and distributor of tableware,
the New York Times reported yesterday. The PBGC estimated that
the pension plan is 31 percent funded with $21.6 million in assets to
cover $72 million in benefit promises. The agency said it will be liable
for $48.3 million of the $50.4 million shortfall. The company, based in
Oneida, N.Y., has two other pension plans that will remain ongoing under
the company's sponsorship, PBGC said. Oneida's reorganization plan to
emerge from bankruptcy court protection had recently been approved.
id='4'>NWA Recalling All Flight Attendants
Northwest Airlines
sent a memo to its flight attendants late yesterday announcing the
recall of all 1,131 flight attendants currently on both voluntary and
involuntary furloughs, the Associated Press reported today. According to
the memo, all flight attendants are being recalled to fill permanent
vacancies at their former bases, effective Sept. 30. The memo also said
that Northwest will bring back an undisclosed number of pilots. Flight
attendants are being recalled because more people than anticipated
earlier are expected to fly in the remainder of 2006 and 2007, Northwest
said. Also, the airline said that it needs to fill jobs of flight
attendants who have retired or quit. Flight attendants have argued that
they're free from requirements of the Railway Labor Act because
Northwest imposed pay cuts and other changes on them without their
consent. Read
more.
id='5'>Bankruptcy Judge Threatens $10M in Sanctions for Latham,
Client
A U.S. bankruptcy court judge is threatening to sanction Latham &
Watkins and one of its clients $10 million, The Recorder
reported today. Last month, Bankruptcy Judge Brett
Dorian issued an order to show cause asking why he shouldn't sanction
magazine publisher Entrepreneur Media Inc. and its lawyers for their
conduct in a long-running battle stemming from a trademark dispute. A
Latham spokesman would not comment on the order, only saying, "our
role is to work with the client and protect and serve their
interest." Latham partner Mark Finkelstein filed an amended
pre-trial statement on Friday, adding back the original
accusations—including the alleged concealment of assets.
href='http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1157557749587'>Read
more.
International
British Ex-Bankers Connected to Enron Fraud
Set to Stand Trial in One Year
U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein set the trial of three former
investment bankers extradited from Britain for Sept. 4, 2007, allowing
them extra time to defend charges that they cheated their employer out
of
profits from an Enron Corp. transaction, Bloomberg News reported
yesterday. David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew are charged
with bilking their former British employer, Greenwich NatWest Ltd., of
millions of dollars through a scheme run by Enron's former CFO, Andrew
Fastow. The bankers pleaded not guilty to seven counts of wire fraud
each. Each count carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
The case is U.S. v. Bermingham, 4:02-cr-00597, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=agd4L0CWmPts'>Read
more.
Eurotunnel Creditors Challenge
Procedures
Eurotunnel creditors
lodged objections in the French courts to bankruptcy protection
procedures covering the Channel tunnel operator's U.K. units,
potentially threatening to undermine a debt restructuring deal, the
Financial Times reported today. Creditors from various tiers of
Eurotunnel's £6.18 billion debt filed objections by a deadline of
last Friday. The French courts granted protection under a new law last
month over the whole company, using E.U. rules that allow one member
state's courts to place subsidiaries registered in another member state
into insolvency procedures if the management centre for the group is in
the court's jurisdiction.
href='http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2006/09/07/afx2998867.html'>Read
more.