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October 30, 2006
name='1'>Mesaba Aviation, Pilots Reach Deal
Bankrupt Mesaba Aviation Inc.
said that it had reached a tentative agreement on labor concessions with
its pilots union, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The deal came
Saturday after a bankruptcy judge previously blocked a potential strike
by pilots, flight attendants and mechanics at the Eagan, Minn.-based
regional carrier. If a deal had not been reached, Mesaba had the
authority from the judge to impose labor cost cuts of 17.5 percent.
Flight attendants and mechanics are continuing to negotiate with the
airline.
href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_bi_ge/mesaba_pilots_1'>Read
more.
Autos
name='2'>Dura Auto Files for Bankruptcy as
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Parts
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Demand
size='3'>Falls
Dura Automotive Systems
Inc. filed for bankruptcy today, becoming the fifth major
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>auto-parts company since February 2005 to seek protection from
creditors, Bloomberg News reported today. After missing a $17.3
million interest payment on $400 million in notes Oct. 16, Dura listed
liabilities of $1.73 billion and assets of $1.99 billion in papers filed
with the U.S. Bankruptcy court in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Delaware. The
company makes parking brakes, door hinges, seat recliners and other
vehicle components and had 8,000 workers as of the end of last
year. The filing covers the company's
size='3'>U.S. and
Canadian operations, the company said. Dura has arranged for about $300
million in loans from Goldman Sachs, GE Capital and Barclays so the
company can continue to operate. Dura will seek bankruptcy approval for
a $50 million installment during its first court hearing.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aM.UausWsPzU'>Read
more.
name='3'>Dana Swamped with Nearly 20,000 Claims
In a revelation that
exceeded earlier predictions, Dana Corp. tallied 19,000 claims against
it totaling $25.3 billion, according to court documents filed
Wednesday, Portfolio
Media reported on Friday. With most of those
claims under dispute, Dana presented the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Manhattan with a set of procedural rules that, if approved, would allow
the company to group the claims. According to Dana’s proposed
guidelines, the objections would be divided into three categories:
untimely and duplicate claims, procedural and records objections, and
specialized substantive objections. A hearing on the matter is set for
Nov. 8, with objections due Nov. 3.
As
Homeowners Face Strains, Market Bets on Loan Defaults
Subprime lending has put
as many as two million families into homes over the past decade, helping
push the
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>homeownership rate up to 69 percent from 65 percent, but it's
beginning to show some cracks, the
size='3'>Wall Street Journal reported today.
Since August, when house prices logged their first year-on-year decline
in more than a decade, the cost of insurance against defaults on bonds
backed by subprime loans has risen as much as 16 percent, suggesting
that investors are concerned that more homeowners will start to
renege. Over
the past decade a convergence of factors has emboldened banks to lend
where they wouldn't before. Tthe development of the Internet and
advances in computing technology have made it much easier and cheaper to
process and package new loans. Electronic databases on borrowers have
made it easier for banks to assess the risk of lending to people with
shakier credit, while new insurance-like derivatives have helped them
mitigate that risk. And robust demand from investors -- both in
the
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>U.S.
abroad -- has given banks a big incentive to lend, because they can
easily turn around and resell the loans in the form of bonds, reaping a
tidy profit.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116217677563707491.html?mod=hps_us_pageone'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='5'>Curative Files Third Objection to Creditor’
Claims
Bankrupt health care
provider Curative Health Services Inc. has objected again to the claims
filed by creditors in the company’s chapter 11 case, filing a
third omnibus objection to the demands,
size='3'>Portfolio Media
reported on Friday. The objection, filed Thursday in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York, disputes several of the
more than 460 proofs of claim that have been filed against
Curative. The
disputed claims include several filed by government agencies. Curative
has questioned a $4.4 million claim filed by the Internal Revenue
Service, as well as three claims filed by the U.S. Department of Health
and Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, one for $6,700,
another for $32,400 and a third for $33,600. Rather than request that
the court toss the disputed claims outright, Curative has asked for a
trial on the books and records claims to be scheduled less than 30 days
after the hearing on the third omnibus objection. The case is
size='3'>Curative Health Services Co., chapter
11 petition number 06-10553-smb, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Southern District of New York.
name='6'>Synthron Files for
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Ch.
Protection
Chemical company Synthron
Inc. filed for bankruptcy on Friday in the wake of a fatal explosion on
Jan. 31 that killed a plant supervisor and injured more than a dozen
other people, the Associated Press reported on Friday. The chemical
plant, located in the company's hometown of
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Morgantown
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.C.
demolished, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken
over responsibility for cleaning up the site. The company listed the
EPA, owed an estimated $3 million, as its largest unsecured creditor.
Synthron listed both assets and debts of less than $100
million.
href='http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061027/synthron_bankruptcy.html?.v=1&printer=1'>Read
more.
name='7'>Mexican Telecom Co.'s Chapter 11 Plan
Confirmed
A federal bankruptcy
court in
size='3'>Manhattan
Satelites Mexicanos S.A. de C.V.’s chapter 11 plan Thursday, less
than three months after the Mexican radio and telecom company filed for
bankruptcy in the
w:st='on'>United
States
Portfolio Media reported on Friday. Satelites
Mexicanos—or SatMex—filed for chapter 11 protection
in
size='3'>on Aug. 11, 2006, listing assets of $906 million and debts of
$743 million. SatMex is at the forefront of satellite services in
size='3'>Mexico
looking to expand throughout
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Latin America
size='3'>, according to court papers. Forty-nine percent of the
company’s revenue comes from customers in the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>United States
size='3'>, according to the company’s bankruptcy
petition.
Credit Managers Daily
Business News Report
The following articles
are taken from the Daily Summary of Troubled & Fast Growing U.S.
Companies published by Bastien Financial Publications.
For more of the latest business news visit
size='3'>http://dailybusiness.creditmanagers.biz
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>.
ABI Members receive a 50
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Summary.
size='3'>Sunnyvale,
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Calif.
software and services firm, reported a fourth quarter net loss of $8.4
million. Revenue declined 6%--to $72.4
million. For the year, it lost $46.1
million, including extra charges of $25.4 million. Revenue declined
8%--to $296 million.
size='3'>Bowater Inc.
size='3'>of
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Greenville
size='3'>,
size='3'>S.C.
newsprint manufacturer, reported a third quarter net loss of $16.1
million, including a $7.6 million gain related to impairments and the
disposition of assets. Sales were flat at
$876 million.
size='3'>DOV Pharmaceutical Inc
size='3'>., a
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Hackensack
size='3'>,
size='3'>N.J.
size='3'>biopharmaceuticals firm, announced that it will explore ways to
improve its liquidity, at the same time warning that it may be forced to
file for bankruptcy protection. The company
added that it's being delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange for
failing to meet minimum listing requirements.
size='3'>General Motors Corp.'s
results have been improving and its stock price is up
nearly 80%, easing some worries that the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Detroit
carmaker might be headed for a bankruptcy filing. Still, some analysts
have been warning that the company's cash-burn rate is slowing down its
recovery. During GM's third quarter, the
firm used up $3.8 billion in cash, compared to $2.3 billion in the
year-earlier period.
size='3'>Millennium Pharmaceuticals
Inc., a
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Cambridge,
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Mass.
of drugs, reported a third quarter net loss of $13.7 million. The
results included restructuring charges of nearly $1.4 million. Revenue
declined 48%--to $104 million.
size='3'>Network Equipment Technologies
Inc., a
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Fremont,
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Calif.
of wide-area-network hardware and software, reported a second quarter
net loss of $2.4 million. Revenue declined 10%--to $19.6
million.
size='3'>Reader's Digest Association
Inc., the Pleasantville, N.Y. publisher,
reported a first quarter net loss of $26.7 million on flat revenue of
$517 million.