href='mailto:Headlines@abiworld.org?subject=Subscribe me to the ABI
Headlines Direct'>
src='/AM/Images/headlines/headline.gif' />
September 5,
2006
id='1'>Justice Department Opposes Dana Corp.’s Bankruptcy
Bonus Plan
The Justice Department
has joined with unions and creditors of Dana Corp., an Ohio-based auto
parts manufacturer, in opposing a proposed incentive bonus plan for top
executives of the company, the
size='3'>New York Times reported today. In a
move that sets the stage for what could become the first major test of
the new bankruptcy law’s curbing of large retention bonuses for
top management, U.S. Trustee
size='3'>Diana G. Adams also raised questions
about the integrity of the proposed compensation plan. She notified the
court that she might request an independent examiner to investigate the
“proposed executive compensation scheme” and the manner in
which it was developed. Bankruptcy Judge
size='3'>Burton R. Lifland will hear arguments
today on whether the plan complies with the new law, which bars
retention bonuses for corporate insiders unless the company can show
that the executives in question have a bona fide job offer that would
pay at least as much as they were already receiving.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/business/05place.html?_r=1&oref=slogi…'>Read
more.
In related news, Dana
Corp. will pay $12.6 million to a number of law firms and companies that
have aided the company throughout its chapter 11 proceedings,
Portfolio Media
reported on Friday. Judge
size='3'>Burton Lifland of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the Southern District of New York authorized numerous fee and
expense awards on Wednesday connected to various professional services
rendered from March 3 through June 30. However, the bills may be only
the tip of the iceberg for the company, which is not expected to exit
bankruptcy until at least the end of 2007. The case is
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>In re Dana Corporation et
al., case number 06-10354, in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New
York.
id='2'>Radnor Holdings Seeks Bankruptcy Bonuses for
Executives
Radnor Holdings Corp. is asking
for bankruptcy court approval to pay top executives bonuses linked to
the sale of its foam cup and container-making operations, Dow Jones
Newswires reported yesterday. Radnor, Pa.-based Radnor Holdings'
proposed bankruptcy bonus pool will open with $625,000, earmarked for
four of the company’s top executives. The pool will be enriched by
4 percent of what's left of the sale proceeds after the secured lenders
are paid. Radnor's unsecured debts include $135 million owed to
bondholders, a $7 million unsecured note and about $47.2 million in
unpaid trade debt.
href='http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/business/15420054.htm'>Read
more.
Refco
Given More Time to Submit Bankruptcy Plan
A
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>judge has extended bankrupt brokerage Refco Inc.'s exclusive
right to file a reorganization plan through Sept. 12, and delayed a
hearing on a possible settlement with creditors until then, Reuters
reported on Friday. Bankruptcy Judge
Robert Drain
size='3'>granted the 11-day extension on Thursday. Refco had sought an
extension through Dec. 5. The status hearing was postponed from Sept. 5.
It has been delayed four times. The extension comes as Refco negotiates
with customers and creditors on terms of a repayment plan. Until the
extension, Refco had faced an Aug. 31 deadline to address creditors'
claims, or face a possible liquidation of its Refco Capital Markets
offshore broker-dealer unit.
href='http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&stor…'>Read
more.
Airlines
id='4'>Delta Tells Judge Pension Plan Must End
Delta Air Lines Inc. told a
bankruptcy judge Friday it has no choice but to eliminate its pilots'
pension plan if it plans to emerge from bankruptcy, the Associated Press
reported on Friday. The nation's third-largest air carrier had asked to
end its pension plan for pilots effective on Saturday, saying that
keeping it in place would mean a 'crippling' operational and financial
crisis that would prevent it from emerging from chapter 11 protection by
mid-2007. Delta's pension plan had allowed pilots to retire at the age
of 50 and take out half their entitlements in a lump sum, receiving the
rest in annuity. The company estimated that 800 to 1,000 pilots would
retire early if they were able to take the lump sum payment. They have
not been able to take the lump-sum since Oct. 1, 2005, due to a
liquidity shortfall in the pension fund. The plan's termination would
mean the end of the lump-sum payouts. The hearing on Delta’s
request will continue today and Wednesday.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/01/AR20060…'>Read
more.
id='5'>Analysis: Airline Industry Still Rebounding from
9/11
Devastated by the Sept.
11 attacks, which resulted in nearly $40 billion in losses, bankruptcies
at at least 10 U.S. airlines and the disappearance of more than 150,000
jobs, the U.S. airline industry seems to finally be bouncing back, the
Associated Press reported on Sunday. Though
plagued by high fuel prices and debt levels, 'five years later what we
have is a much different industry, and I think a stronger one in some
sense,' said US Airways CEO Douglas Parker. Despite the likelihood that
planes remain top targets among terrorists, the threat doesn't seem to
have hurt the demand for air travel as traffic has rebounded to
near-2001 levels.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/03/AR20060…'>Read
more.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Northwest
Ohio
size='3'> Bankruptcy Filings Down Sharply
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in
size='3'>Toledo
400 bankruptcies were filed last month for the 21-county
northwest
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Ohio
area, down 69 percent from 1,314 filings in August, 2005,
according to Saturday’s
size='3'>Toledo Blade. For the first eight
months, there were 2,354 filings, down 74 percent from 9,011 in the same
period a year ago. Filings, locally and nationally, have declined
sharply since bankruptcy-law changes took effect in
October.
Law
May Hasten Decline of Pensions
When chemicals titan
DuPont announced plans last week to scale back its traditional pension
program, it became the third-largest employer to reduce retirement
benefits since Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 on
Aug. 3, the Los Angeles
Times reported yesterday.
size='3'>Delaware-based DuPont, known for generous employee benefits,
said its traditional pension would be off-limits to new workers starting
next year. In 2008, the company will change its pension formula for
current employees, lessening their payouts in retirement. The move
followed pension freezes by Tenneco Inc., an auto parts maker in
size='3'>Illinois
Blount International of Portland, Ore., which makes outdoor work and
industrial equipment. All the companies said they would improve their
employees' 401(k) savings plans. The cutbacks are just the latest among
many by
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>corporations that are phasing out costly traditional pensions
in favor of 401(k) accounts and similar plans that provide retirement,
but don't guarantee a monthly check for life.
href='http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-pension4sep04,1,32…'>Read
more.
size='3'>Commentary:
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Further Protections Needed for Those
Facing Retirement
Policymakers need to be
mindful of some sobering statistics on personal setbacks as they
consider ways to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which
threaten to bankrupt the federal government as the population ages,
according to a commentary in today’s Washington Post. Nearly seven
in 10 adults age 51 to 61 in 1992 developed a health problem, lost a
spouse to death or divorce, or became unemployed during the 10 years
ending in 2002. Solutions that might help alleviate such problems would
be to shore up unemployment benefits and expand the Social Security
disability program, whose strict eligibility criteria deny benefits to
many people too sick to work.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR20060…'>Read
more.
id='9'>Lawsuit Against Ernst & Young to Move
Forward
A federal judge has
denied Ernst & Young’s motion to dismiss a class action
lawsuit related to its role in the Seitel Inc. accounting
scandal, Portfolio
Media reported Friday. Judge Vanessa D.
Gilmore of the U.S. District Court in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Houston
Wednesday that the plaintiffs—all shareholders who purchased
Seitel stock from April 2001 to May 2002—could continue their case
against the accounting firm. The class action securities suit was first
filed against Ernst & Young and Seitel in April 2002. In the
complaint, the shareholders alleged that Seitel improperly recognized
revenues to inflate profits, in violation of Generally Accepted Auditing
Standards. The case is
size='3'>Kornfeld et al. v. Seitel Inc. et al
size='3'>., case number 4:02-01566, in the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of Texas.
id='10'>Cost of Pensions Adds to
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Factory
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Town
Troubles
As mayor of
size='3'>Lockport
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.Y.
seeing the budget of his city consumed by the kind of pension and
retiree health care costs that helped push
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Delphi
the New York
Times reported yesterday. So Tucker is
preparing to follow in the footsteps of his former employers, GM
and
size='3'>Delphi
city’s five unions for concessions, including limiting wage
increases and cutting benefits, when labor contracts expire next year.
Cities across
size='3'>New York
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>state
starting to grapple with the so-called legacy costs of pensions and
retiree health care benefits, and the situation in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Lockport
with its rising property taxes and strained budget — is emblematic
of what other cities may face in the future. Pension costs in
w:st='on'>
quadrupled in the last five years, and they will soon consume 10 percent
of the city’s budget. In
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Buffalo
state’s second-largest city, pension costs have risen to $24
million, from $4 million, in the last five years, and the city is now
overseen by a financial control board.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/04/nyregion/04lockport.html?_r=1&ei=5094…'>Read
more.
International
w:st='on'>
id='11'>Britain
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>'s Top Businessmen to Collect Up to
£1 Million per Year in Pensions
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Britain
size='3'>'s top businessmen can look forward to retiring on pensions of
more than £500,000 a year, with leading earners reaching nearly
£1m, according to the
size='3'>London Observer yesterday. The
figures come at a controversial time, as the Association of British
Insurers warned just two weeks ago that excessive pensions for directors
were damaging the reputation of business when ordinary employees were
having their benefits cut. Many leading U.K.
size='3'>companies are negotiating reductions in benefits or increases
in the retirement age for employees in order to tackle pension fund
deficits. The report, to be published in this week's
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Labour Research
size='3'>magazine, shows that 112 directors of FTSE 100 firms will have
pensions worth at least £200,000 a year, with 27 expecting one of
£500,000 a year.
href='http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1863493,00.html'>Read
more.
href='http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1863493,00.html'>