September 242003

Submitted by webadmin on Wed, 2003-09-24 00:00

border='0'>

September 24, 2003

Senate Panel Approves Consumer Credit Measure

The Senate Banking Committee approved legislation on Tuesday to update
the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), providing consumers with stronger
federal protections against identity theft, greater access to their
credit report information and the ability to 'opt out' of receiving
certain commercial solicitations, CongressDaily reported. Before
approving the 'National Consumer Credit System Improvement Act' by a
unanimous voice vote, the panel also adopted a manager's amendment that
would permanently extend expiring FCRA provisions that pre-empt state
consumer protection laws.

Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.) original draft of
the legislation did not include the state pre-emption extension, which
the financial services industry supports and many consumer groups
oppose. Shelby said his decision to support a permanent extension was
based on the committee's 'comprehensive review' of the current law,
which included six hearings over the past few months. 'It addresses the
areas requiring reform that we have identified within the context of a
permanent national system,' Shelby said of the amendment. He said it
would provide flexibility to ensure consumer protections develop with
market practices, reported the newswire.

Weirton Steel Gets Bankruptcy Plan Extension

Weirton Steel Corp. on Tuesday said a federal bankruptcy judge agreed to
provide the steelmaker with an additional three months to finalize its
plan of reorganization, Reuters reported. Judge Edward Friend approved
the company's motion to extend the deadline to Dec. 15 from Sept. 16,
the Weirton, W.V.-based company said. Weirton Steel filed a voluntary
petition for bankruptcy protection on May 19.

States with High Filing Bankruptcy Rates

Missouri's filing rate is highest in the nation, four times that of
South Carolina, Msn.com reported. Bankruptcy experts offer some theories
about why some states outstrip others in consumer insolvencies. For
example, they believe medical bills contribute to about one in five
bankruptcies, and the states with the highest filing rates tend to have
larger-than-average populations of uninsured. For example, 22.4 percent
of Nevada's population, 19.8 percent of Oklahomans and 17.3 percent of
Oregonians lacked health insurance last year, according to surveys by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with 14.1
percent nationally. But Missouri, Indiana and Utah have uninsured
populations in line with the national average, while Texas -- one of the
lowest filing states -- has an uninsured population of 27.8 percent of
its citizens. Alaska and North and South Carolina also exceed the
national average. To read the full article, point your browser to

href='http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/P61277.asp'>http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/P61277.asp.

No Swift Profit for Telemedia from Global Crossing

Singapore Technologies Telemedia is close to acquiring bankrupt Global
Crossing Ltd., but the U.S. telecom carrier is unlikely to generate
near-term profits due to oversupply in the global bandwidth market,
financial analysts said, Reuters reported. Bandwidth prices have plunged
by between 95 and 98 percent since the technology bubble in 1998 and
1999. While the rate of decline has begun to taper off, analysts believe
it will take at least another three years before the industry recovers.
'Global Crossing is unlikely to bring in any profits until the industry
turns around,' said Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Brenda Lee,
reported the newswire.

ST Telemedia, owned by Singapore government investment arm Temasek
Holdings Ltd., could instead incur some operating losses as it has to
service an existing 75,000 Global Crossing customers, said another
analyst, Reuters reported.

Cuban in Landmark Deal with Purchase of Art House Chain

Mark Cuban, Internet billionaire and owner of the NBA's Dallas
Mavericks, has purchased Landmark Theaters for an undisclosed sum,
sources close to the deal said on Monday, Reuters reported. Few details
of the sale are known except that Cuban's business partner, Internet
billionaire Todd Wagner, will become CEO of Landmark's 55 art house
theaters nationwide. Sources said the parties are expected to announce
the final details of the agreement after regulatory approvals are
issued.

Landmark has essentially been on the auction block since 2001, when
Oaktree Capital Management pulled Silver Cinema out of bankruptcy for
about $40 million. In January, the company's $80 million sale to
Toronto-based Onex Corp., the parent company of Loews Cineplex, fell
apart when the two companies claimed that they were doubtful the merger
would receive the necessary regulatory approvals because of antitrust
concerns, reported the newswire.

Exide Wins Approval of Financing Agreement for $550 Million
Loan

Exide Technologies Inc. won court approval of an agreement with Deutsche
Bank AG for financing of as much as $550 million after it exits
bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The financing is subject to several
conditions, including Exide leaving bankruptcy by Dec. 18. U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey approved the agreement at a hearing
yesterday in Wilmington, Del. Carey will consider final approval of the
company's reorganization plan on Oct. 21, reported the newswire.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Seeks National Energy Group
Examiner

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is seeking to have an examiner
appointed in PG&E National Energy Group Inc.'s chapter 11 bankruptcy
case with the power to investigate transactions involving PG&E units
that aren't in bankruptcy protection. The Japanese industrial giant,
which is one of PG&E National Energy Group's unsecured creditors,
said in a motion filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Greenbelt, Md.,
that an examiner must be appointed to look into National Energy Group's
decision to liquidate the assets and settle the claims of various units.
'These activities, which will otherwise be completely unsupervised by
this court ... will have a direct and profound impact on the ultimate
distributions to creditors in this case,' said the motion, filed Sept.
18.

Court Approves UAL Corp. Fuel Supply Pact With Morgan Stanley
Unit

UAL Corp. and United Airlines received bankruptcy court approval of
a jet fuel supply agreement with a unit of Morgan Stanley, according to
a court order. Judge Eugene R. Wedoff of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in Chicago signed the order Friday. The order said it appears the
fuel pact will provide UAL and United with value and will help the
companies achieve their restructuring objectives. The pact calls for
Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. to supply 100 percent of the airline's
fuel requirements at 35 airports in the United States. At some airports,
Morgan Stanley Capital Group is to perform all pipeline supply
requirements at cost, take on the carrier's local supply contracts and
resell the fuel at cost, court papers said.

Conseco Receives SEC Subpoena As Part of Accounting
Inquiry

Conseco Inc. received a subpoena on Tuesday from federal regulators
seeking documents about past accounting of investments related to the
insurer's former mobile home lending business, the Associated Press
reported. Conseco, which emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy-court
protection this month, disclosed the Securities and Exchange Commission
subpoena in a statement that said the company 'is not a target in this
investigation.'

The subpoena requests documents of the parent company, its former mobile
home lending unit Conseco Finance, and Green Tree Financial Corp. -- the
name of the St. Paul, Minn.-based unit before Conseco bought it in 1998
for $6 billion. The parent company sold off Conseco Finance this year in
a bankruptcy auction, reported the newswire.

PurchasePro Executives Enter Guilty Pleas to Fraud Charges

Two senior executives at now-defunct PurchasePro.com Inc., which had
been connected with alleged advertising transaction fraud at AOL Time
Warner Inc., pleaded guilty to fraud charges brought by the Justice
Department, the Wall Street Journal reported. Jeffrey R.
Anderson, a former senior vice president of the Las Vegas electronic
procurement company, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
while Scott H. Miller, the former controller and senior vice president
of finance, pleaded guilty to impeding and obstructing a federal
criminal investigation.

The Wall Street Journal reported in February that former AOL
executive Eric Keller crafted the deal that enabled AOL to cash in more
than $27 million in stock warrants from PurchasePro in the first half of
2001, according to people familiar with the matter. AOL then booked the
money as advertising revenue. AOL in August 2000 announced it would
restate $190 million of 2000 and 2001 revenue following an internal
review of advertising and commerce transactions. PurchasePro filed for
bankruptcy protection in September 2002, reported the online
newspaper.

100,000 U.S. Steelworkers Urge Bush Keep Tariffs

U.S. steelworkers yesterday urged President Bush to keep tariffs on
imported steel for the full three years he originally planned, Reuters
reported. About 100 steelworkers gave a senior U.S. Commerce Department
official petitions containing the names of more than 100,000 co-workers,
including some in supplier industries, who want the tariffs continued
for 18 more months. 'The president promised us three years and we're
saying to the president 'keep your promise,'' said Terry Straub, a
senior vice president of United States Steel Corp. Bush imposed duties
ranging up to 30 percent on imported steel in March 2002 to help the
industry get back on its feet after a string of more than 30
bankruptcies since 1997. But heading into next year's presidential
election, Bush is under pressure to eliminate, or at least scale back,
the tariffs to help reverse the 2.5 million job losses in the
manufacturing sector that have occurred. In a short speech to the
steelworkers, Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas offered no promises
on the tariffs, but said he would take their message to the White House,
reported the newswire. Roman''>

Thanks for visiting
Today's Bankruptcy Headlines. New articles are posted here each business
day.