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February 2, 2007
w:st='on'>
id='1'>Davenport
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'> Diocese Requests Extension in Bankruptcy
Case
The Roman Catholic Diocese of
Davenport and its creditors’ committee have asked for more time
for potential church abuse victims to file claims, the Associated Press
reported yesterday. The diocese and the creditors’ committee want
the current deadline of Feb. 6 extended to mid-July to provide more time
to find others who claim they were sexually abused. They also asked that
the deadline for the diocese to file its reorganization plan be extended
from Feb. 10 to mid-August. The diocese says it needs the additional
time to determine the number of claims to be filed, to negotiate
settlements with insurance carriers and to make sure the plan takes into
account the interests of the church, creditors and other
parties.
href='http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/02/01/ap-state-ia/d8n10dm84.txt'>Read
more.
Approves Foamex's Exit Plan
Bankruptcy Judge
Kevin Gross
size='3'>confirmed Foamex International Inc.’s reorganization
plan, setting the stage for the company’s emergence from
bankruptcy within the next couple of weeks,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
In confirming the plan, Judge Gross cleared the way for Foamex’s
creditors to receive about $665 million in cash. The money will come
from a group of lenders led by Bank of America, which has committed up
to $790 million in exit financing. The Pennsylvania-based foam materials
maker added that creditor distributions would most likely begin on Feb.
12.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=17786'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
FLYi
Bids for More Time to Remove Civil Actions
Bankrupt airline FLYi
Inc. is seeking more time to file notices of removal with respect to
certain pending civil actions filed before the carrier entered
bankruptcy protection,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
FLYi also said in court documents filed Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the District of Delaware that since the confirmation of its
reorganization plan is scheduled to be heard in less than six weeks, it
is appropriate to extend the removal deadline. The request comes one
week after Judge Mary F.
Walrath gave the nod to FLYi’s request
for an extension of the exclusivity period, giving the carrier until the
end of April to solicit creditor support for its
reorganization plan.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=17766'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Hospitals
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>St.
Vincent
size='3'>Gets Exclusivity Extension
Judge
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Adlai Hardin
size='3'>of the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>District Bankruptcy Court for the Southern
face='Times New Roman'>District of New York granted an
emergency bridge order extending Saint Vincent Catholic Medical
Centers’ exclusivity deadline to Feb. 9,
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360
size='3'>reported yesterday. The bridge order marks the second time
Judge Hardin has granted the health services company an extension
since
size='3'>Saint Vincent
filed its fifth motion to prolong its exclusivity period to Jan
18.
size='3'>Saint Vincent
the court to grant it another 12 days. The hospital group asked the
judge to expedite granting the request because it was an
“uncontested motion… the terms of which have been vetted
through the
creditors’ committee and the tort claimants’
committee.” However, by Jan 30, the parties still had not finished
negotiations. By filing the bridge order, Hardin ruled that the company
could be given nine more days to file its chapter 11 plan, and may
solicit acceptance of the plan till June 11.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=17713'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
id='5'>Dimensions Healthcare Avoids Shutdown
The nonprofit company
that runs the
size='3'>Prince George
(
size='3'>Md.
system agreed yesterday to accept the possibility of greater county
control over its board of directors in exchange for a $5 million county
payment, temporarily staving off a shutdown crisis, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Washington Post
size='3'>reported yesterday. The agreement will keep the hospital from
immediately planning for closure, but it is only a temporary solution,
hospital executives said yesterday. They said that the payment will keep
the hospital operational only through March and that state lawmakers and
county leaders must find the long-term solution to the system's
financial problems that has evaded them for years.
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Meanwhile
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>County
size='3'>Executive Jack B. Johnson said that he believes the hospital
might be able to relieve some of its financial problems by declaring
bankruptcy and restructuring.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020100882.html'>Read
more.
Autos
id='6'>GM, Ford Lose Market Share as Sales Sag
The growing
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>economy failed to boost General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor
Co., as both suffered sharp sales declines and ceded more market share
to their Japan-based rivals, the
size='3'>Wall Street Journal reported today.
GM's sales fell 17 percent, to 244,614 vehicles, and Ford's fell 19
percent to 165,668, partly because of big cuts in low-margin sales to
fleets like rental companies. Ford's deep fall meant the longtime No. 2
U.S. auto maker sold fewer vehicles in January than both Toyota Motor
Corp. and DaimlerChrylser AG. George Pipas, Ford's sales analyst, said
January's total represented the lowest volume since the recession of the
early 1980s. The
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Detroit
giants' results pulled January's overall vehicle sales
down 4.6 percent to 1,090,925 vehicles, according to Autodata
Corp.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117027359718494031.html?mod=home_whats_news_us'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
id='7'>Collins & Aikman's CEO Resigns
Frank Macher, the
president and CEO of Collins & Aikman Corp., resigned yesterday to
make way for fresh leadership as the company attempts to sell its
operations and exit chapter 11 protection,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
The company said Macher had agreed that a new leadership structure was
appropriate as it executed the balance of its sale process. The
bankruptcy court in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Detroit
approved Collins & Aikman's disclosure statement, giving the company
approval to auction off its remaining assets and emerge from bankruptcy.
Macher will be replaced by the office of the chairman of the board and
six members of Collins & Aikman’s senior management
team.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=17742'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
SEC
Approves New Method for Companies to Value Stock Options
The Securities and
Exchange Commission has given a tentative approval to one securities
auction method affecting the value of stock options, while warning that
auditors should study the results of the auction before actually using
the results in their financial statements, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>New York Times
size='3'>reported today. The approval was announced by the Zions
Bancorporation, a Utah bank that hopes not only to use the method to cut
its own reported expense but also to develop a business of issuing
similar securities for other companies. Under current accounting rules,
companies must report as an expense the value of stock options given to
executives and employees. That value is now determined by financial
models like the Black-Scholes model, which can produce values higher
than companies wish.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/business/02options.html?pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
id='9'>Long-Running AOL Fraud Trial Heads to Jury
An
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Alexandria
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Va.
concluded its first day of deliberations yesterday without reaching a
verdict on two former AOL executives accused of conspiring to help a
business partner create phony revenue as the Internet boom turned bust
in early 2001, the
size='3'>Washington Post reported today. Kent
D. Wakeford, former vice president of AOL's Business Affairs unit, and
John P. Tuli, a former official with AOL's Netbusiness unit, have been
charged with helping Las Vegas software maker PurchasePro meet revenue
targets in March and April 2001 by lying to auditors and backdating
contracts. At the time, both companies were struggling to meet analyst
expectations and ultimately resorted to fraud to preserve the illusion
of success, prosecutors said.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020100841.html'>Read
more.
International
id='10'>Bankruptcies Surge in the
size='3'>
Kingdom
The number of individual
insolvencies in
size='3'>England
size='3'>hit a record 29,804 in the fourth quarter, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Financial Times
size='3'>reported today. Data from the Insolvency Service showed that
17,063 people opted for bankruptcy in the fourth quarter and 12,741 went
into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVAs). The fourth quarter
showed a 7.1 percent increase on the third quarter and a rise of 44
percent on the same period a year ago. The latest figures bring the
total of personal insolvencies for last year to 107,288, representing
the first time the figure has exceeded 100,000 in the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>United Kingdom
size='3'>.
href='http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4118affc-b2ab-11db-99ca-0000779e2340.html'>Read
more.
id='11'>TROUBLED COMPANIES IN THE NEWS
1000’s of companies lose
money or experience some form of difficulty each
quarter.
The business news
articles below are taken from the
size='3'>Daily Summary of Troubled & Fast Growing U.S. Companies and
Other Business News published by Bastien
Financial Publications.
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size='3'>steve@creditnews.comyour
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size='3'>Bausch & Lomb Inc., a
size='3'>Rochester
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.Y.
eyecare products, reduced its sales outlook for 2006 and added that
sales in 2007 will likely be at the lower end of earlier forecasts. The
company added that it expects to soon file its delayed annual report for
2005. Recently, B&L won waivers on a $400 million revolving
credit deal and a five-year term-loan agreement of $375
million.
size='3'>Coachmen Industries Inc., an
size='3'>Elkhart
maker of motorhomes, reported a fourth quarter net loss of $30.9
million. Revenue declined 17%--to $116 million. For the year, it lost
$31.2 million on a 20% revenue decline--to $564
million.
size='3'>Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.,
a
size='3'>Newark
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.J.
company, reported a fourth quarter net loss of $47 million. Revenue
declined 16%--to $2.8 billion. For the year, its net income rose 12%--to
$739 million, on flat revenue of just under $12.2 billion. The
quarter and year included asset-sale and merger charges of $1 million
and $186 million respectively.
size='3'>Pulte Homes Inc., a Bloomfield Hills,
Mich. homebuilder, reported a fourth quarter net loss of $8.4 million on
a 14% revenue decline--to $4.4 billion. For the year, its net income
sank 54%--to $688 million, on a 3% decline in revenue--to $14.3
billion.
size='3'>Triad Hospitals Inc.,
size='3'>Plano
under pressure from its biggest shareholder, TPG-Axon Capital Management
LP. Since last fall, TPG-Axon, which owns 7% of Triad, has expressed
concern about the 'strategic direction' of the company and has outlined
its own plan for improving results. Among TPG-Axon's suggestions
for improving Triad's return to shareholders are reducing capital
expenditures, focusing on its stronger assets and returning excess cash
flow to shareholders.
size='3'>Ulticom Inc., a Mount Laurel, N.J.
developer of telecommunications software, is being delisted from the
Nasdaq Global Market as a result of late financial filings. Also
being delisted is Ulticom's majority owner, Comverse Technology
Inc.