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May 30, 2006
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name='1'>U.S.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'> Bankruptcy Filings Drop to a
20-Year Low
The total number
of
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>bankruptcies filed during this year's first quarter fell to
116,771, the lowest on record in more than 20 years, according to the
American Bankruptcy Institute and data from the Administrative Office of
the U.S. Courts, the
City
size='3'>News reported on Saturday. The 2006
first quarter filings represent an 82.5 percent drop from the fourth
quarter of 2005, when 667,431 new cases were filed. It also represents a
70.9 percent drop from 401,149 filings in the first quarter of 2005. The
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah was among the five
districts in the nation showing the highest percentage decrease in total
filings for the 12-month period ending March 31. Filings in
size='3'>Utah
period fell 12.05 percent. 'Congress hoped the new law would reduce the
number of new consumer bankruptcies, and the latest figures reflect that
intention, though there are still many families under financial
stress,' Samuel
Gerdano, ABI executive director, said on
Friday.
href='http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635210705,00.html'>Read
more .
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here to read the ABI press release.
name='2'>Adelphia Asks Court to Allow Quicker Asset
Sales
Bankrupt cable operator
Adelphia Communications Corp. said on Friday it will ask the bankruptcy
court to let it proceed with a speedier sale of its cable systems to
rival operators Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable, Reuters reported on
Saturday. Adelphia said it was seeking authority from the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to proceed with
the asset sales without first confirming a chapter
11 reorganization plan. Adelphia said it anticipates a hearing to
approve certain amended bid protections to be held on or about June 8,
followed by a hearing to approve the sale. Adelphia also expects a
reorganization plan related to its joint ventures with Comcast on
or about June 27. Under the proposed modified approach, Adelphia would
be comprised of 16 percent of the common stock of Time Warner Cable,
used to pay for Adelphia assets, and $12.7 billion, out of which joint
venture creditors will be paid.
href='http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=OBR&…'>Read
more .
name='3'>Bankruptcy Judge Approves Exit Financing for J.L.
French
J.L. French Automotive
Castings Inc. has arranged for $255 million in financing as part of a
plan to emerge from bankruptcy, the
size='3'>Business Journal of Milwaukee
size='3'>reported on Friday. The lending group consists of J.L. French
debtholder Goldman Sachs Credit Partners LP and Morgan Stanley Senior
Funding Inc. They are providing a $150 million first-lien term loan, a
$55 million second-lien term loan and a $50 million senior secured
revolving credit line, according to The Deal.com. Goldman Sachs and
Morgan Stanley boasted the lowest interest rates in beating out three
other prospective lenders -- debtor-in-possession lender GE Capital
Corp., Ableco Finance LLC and Banc of America Securities LLC, according
to the report.
href='http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/05/22/daily45.h…'>Read
more .
name='4'>Western Tennessee
face='Times New Roman' size='3'> Bankruptcy Filings Decline
Sharply
The number of people
in
size='3'>West Tennessee
bankruptcy dropped 49.6 percent in the first quarter of the year
compared to the same period a year ago, according to figures released
Friday by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the
Memphis
Commercial-Appeal reported on Saturday.
Nationwide, figures for the 12-month period ending March 31 indicate
that combined business and personal bankruptcies were up 12.8 percent,
reflecting a surge in filing to beat the implementation of
the new bankruptcy law.
In
size='3'>West Tennessee
bankruptcies in the three months ending March 31 were down from 6,324 in
2005 to 3,141 in 2006, or 49.6 percent. In
w:st='on'>Eastern
Arkansas
2005 to 1,156 in 2006, or a 72.4 percent decrease. In
w:st='on'>
size='3'>North Mississippi
filings went from 2,292 in 2005 to 688 in 2006, a 70 percent
decline.
href='http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_473…'>Read
more .
name='5'>Airline Loan-Guarantee Program Ends With a
Profit
Created by Congress to
help stabilize the airline industry following the Sept. 11, 2001
terrorist attacks by overseeing $10 billion in loan guarantees to the
airlines, the Air Transport Stabilization Board (ATSB) looks to wrap up
its work this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
ATSB executive director Mark Dayton said that the airline-loan-guarantee
program will end this year with a profit of more than $300
million. One reason for the large profit is
that airlines only received a fraction of that $10 billion as the
program guaranteed only $1.6 billion in loans. The board rescued America
West Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. and helped facilitate a merger
of the two. 'Without the ATSB loan, America West probably wouldn't have
survived, and without America West, US Airways probably wouldn't have
survived,' says US Airways Chief Executive W. Douglas
Parker. Yet in late
2004, three of the six airlines that received federally guaranteed loans
-- US Airways, ATA Airlines and Aloha Airlines -- filed for
bankruptcy-court protection, and about $1 billion in loans guaranteed by
the government were at risk.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB114895120797865882.html'>Read
more . (Registration required.)
name='6'>Winn-Dixie CEO Gets a Bonus in Bankruptcy
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. is
giving its CEO, Peter Lynch, $2.6 million in bonuses over two years as
the grocer struggles through bankruptcy reorganization, the
South Florida
Sun-Sentinel reported Saturday. Winn-Dixie
hired Lynch at a base annual salary of $900,000. Two months after hiring
Lynch, in February 2005, Winn-Dixie filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection. That same month, it gave Lynch a $1.5 million retention
bonus if he stayed with the company through the end of the year, which
he did. In fiscal 2005, Winn Dixie lost $832.6 million. This year, Lynch
was given another retention bonus, $1.15 million in February, which
he'll earn if he stays with the company through August. 'Peter was not
the cause of the problems that plagued Winn-Dixie prior to its decision
to reorganize under chapter 11,' a company spokesman said.
href='http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-sbceosidebar28may28,0,74…'>Read
more .
name='7'>Founder of Bankrupt Hedge Fund Indicted
The founder of
now-insolvent hedge fund International Management Associates has been
formally indicted on charges for mail fraud after more than $100 million
disappeared from the fund, prompting its chapter 11 filing,
Portfolio Media
reported on Friday. Kirk Wright, who in February
disappeared after IMA investors began complaining that they could not
withdraw funds from their accounts, was arrested last week in
size='3'>Miami
indictment, which is likely to be used by prosecutors to continue
Wright’s detention, alleges that IMA regularly sent fraudulent
statements to its investors that claimed that the returns on their
investments were positive. The indictment comes just a few months after
the massive losses incurred by the fund forced it into chapter 11. The
six investors asked the judge to convert IMA’s chapter 11 petition
to chapter 7 in order to expedite liquidation and repay debts. The
investors had collectively sunk $11 million into the fund, with the two
largest creditors owed $5 million and $2 million. The bankruptcy case
is International
Management Associates LLC, chapter 11 petition
number 06-62966-pwb in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern
District of Georgia.
Settlement for
size='3'>Illinois
Discount Chain Heads to Creditors for
Approval
An out-of-court
settlement that would allow Decatur, Ill.-based K's Merchandise Mart
Inc. to avoid bankruptcy and keep its chain of discount stores open is
being sent to some 2,000 creditors for approval, the
size='3'>(
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Springfield
size='3'>,
size='3'>Ill.
Journal-Register reported on Saturday. The
Boston-based investment firm that has taken control of K's said Friday
that it negotiated the agreement with an ad-hoc committee of
creditors.Gordon Brothers Retail Partners had taken 'effective control'
of K's and provided a loan that helped the retailer narrowly avoid
bankruptcy early this year.
href='http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/87009.asp#'>Read
more.
name='9'>Commentary: Finding a Legitimate Nonprofit Credit
Counselor
Finding a nonprofit
credit counselor can sometimes be difficult for those who genuinely need
the service, as a number of organizations calling themselves nonprofit
counseling agencies have been selling debt-consolidation plans to folks
who couldn't really afford them, according to a
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Detroit Free Press
size='3'>commentary on Sunday. Earlier this month the IRS, after a
lengthy investigation, revoked the tax-free status of 41 agencies and is
eyeing plenty more for enforcement. John Ventura, director of the
size='3'>Texas
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Consumer
size='3'>Complaints
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Center
University of Houston Law School, recommends checking with the U.S.
Trustee Program at 'http://www.usdoj.gov/ust' to find out which agencies are
approved to fulfill the bankruptcy requirement, even if you don't plan
on filing for bankruptcy. The Federal Trade Commission recommends you
ask a consumer credit-counseling agency what services it offers, how
much it will cost and how its counselors are certified.
href='http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/BUSINESS07/605…'>Read
more .
name='10'>Executive Resigns from Delta Subsidiary in
Bankruptcy
The president of Delta Air
Lines Inc. subsidiary Comair resigned on Friday as the regional airline
struggles to reach a deal with flight attendants over contract
concessions that it says it needs to emerge from bankruptcy protection,
the Associated Press reported yesterday. Delta said the decision by Fred
Buttrell, Comair's president since January 2005, to step down does not
mean changes in its operations or its stance on negotiations with the
flight attendants' union. Don Bornhorst, a Comair veteran with 15 years
of airline industry experience who became chief financial officer last
year, will succeed Buttrell in part because of his familiarity with
Comair and the negotiations with the union.
href='http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,635211318,00.html'>Read
more .
name='11'>Colorado Governor Signs Bill to Cover $11 Billion State
Pension Plan Shortage
Gov. Bill Owens (R) signed a
bill into law on Thursday that will protect 68,000 retirees and 175,000
active workers in state and local governments who are enrolled in the
state's pension plan, the Associated Press reported Friday. It covers a
projected $11 billion shortfall in the Public Employees Retirement
Association. Newly hired employees in higher education will be able to
choose either a new defined-contribution plan or the traditional
defined-benefit plan. State lawmakers agreed to change the makeup of the
16-member pension board, and public employees agreed to give up a
portion of their raises over the next six years to help keep the plan
solvent.
href='http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9278559/detail.html'>Read
more .
name='12'>Dispute Between Insurer and
w:st='on'>
size='3'>New York
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Hospital
Patients Rattled
A dispute between Oxford
Health Plans and a hospital in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Queens
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.Y.
hostilities in the fight between insurance companies with hospitals and
doctors to a rare pitch, and could threaten the hospital's financial
health, the New York
Times reported today. This spring,
size='3'>Oxford
doctors and thousands of its subscribers that it would no longer pay for
medical care at
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Jamaica
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Hospital
size='3'>Medical
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Center
gave them a month to make new arrangements. It told some doctors that
they, too, would no longer be allowed to participate in the
size='3'>Oxford
it told many patients that they needed to find new doctors. That
disruption was put on hold, at least temporarily, after
size='3'>Jamaica
size='3'>sued the insurer. However, doctors say that the dispute has
already interrupted medical care and scared away patients, and that
if
size='3'>Oxford
its threat, it will cause an exodus of patients and doctors from a
hospital that is barely getting by financially.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/nyregion/30jamaica.html?pagewanted=pr…'>Read
more .
International
name='13'>Daewoo Founder Sentenced to Prison Term
A
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Seoul
sentenced the founder and former chairman of collapsed conglomerate
Daewoo to 10 years in prison for a range of charges including
embezzlement and accounting fraud, the Associated Press reported today.
The Seoul Central District Court said it also ordered Kim Woo-choong,
69, to forfeit more than 21 trillion won ($22 billion) and pay a fine of
10 million won ($10,600). Kim was indicted in June last year on charges
of multi-trillion won accounting fraud, illegal financing and diverting
funds out of the country. A severe sentence was 'unavoidable,' since Kim
was engaged in activities that contributed to Daewoo Group's bankruptcy
and hurt
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>South
Korea
abroad, the court said in the ruling.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/30/AR20060…'>Read
more .