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January 8, 2007
Autos
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>
name='1'>Delphi
size='3'> to Refinance with $4.5 Billion
Loan
Bankrupt auto parts maker
Delphi Inc. received approval to borrow $4.5 billion to finance its exit
from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported on Friday.
Judge Robert
Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Southern District of New York approved the refinancing, which is
expected to be finalized next week. The new arrangement is expected to
save
about $8 million a month. The company originally proposed
the refinancing on Dec. 18, the same day it proposed a private equity
agreement that would pump $3.4 billion into the reorganized company. The
proposed agreement calls for investors to purchase up to $3.4 billion in
the debtors’ stock through a rights offering. Current
size='3'>Delphi
have the opportunity to purchase common stock at $35 per share in the
same rights offering.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=15947'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='2'>Dana Asks for Additional Funding
Dana Corp.’s bid
for a $200 million increase in its bankruptcy financing comes as
the
size='3'>Toledo
supplier struggles to bring in enough cash to keep the business running,
the Toledo
Blade reported on Saturday. Dana, which filed
for bankruptcy protection in March, said it has become harder to achieve
its restructuring goals because of curtailed production forecasts by
some of the firm’s largest domestic customers in recent months,
especially in SUV and pickup production. The firm has asked the judge to
approve changes to its $1.45 billion financing package so it will have
access to more cash. If approved, the borrowing limit on its term loan
will increase to $900 million from $700 million. A hearing on the issue
has been set for Jan. 24.
href='http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/BUSINESS03/70106008'>Read
more.
PBGC
Takes over Delta Pilot Pension Plan
Delta Air Lines Inc.'s
retirement plan for 13,000 active and former pilots, underfunded by $3
billion, was taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC),
allowing the airline to exit bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on
Friday. Delta, the third-biggest
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>airline, plans to end court protection from creditors in the
first half of this year, after rejecting an $8.42 billion merger bid
from rival US Airways. A federal judge said Delta couldn't end its
bankruptcy unless the pilot plan was terminated. The plan, which ended
on Sept. 2, has $1.7 billion in assets to cover more than $4.7 billion
in benefit liabilities for pilots at Atlanta-based Delta, the
largest
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>airline in bankruptcy, according to the PBGC. The PBGC gets a
$2.2 billion unsecured claim, and Delta's proposed reorganization plan
will provide $225 million in senior unsecured notes to the agency, Delta
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aztQAuT0k_UI&refer=home'>Read
more.
name='4'>Adelphia Creditor Groups Object to Order
Two creditor groups
involved in the bankruptcy proceedings of Adelphia Communications Corp.
have objected to the order confirming the company’s reorganization
plan, questioning some of the provisions included in the ruling,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported on Friday. The equityholders’ committee
has lodged a formal complaint about a paragraph included in the order
that “improperly seeks to limit the relief that an appellate court
may provide, in the event of a successful appeal from an order
confirming the plan.” The creditors have argued that this part of
the order “is at odds with the court’s express intent not to
foreclose the appellate rights of objectors to the plan.”
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=15879'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='5'>Decrease in
w:st='on'>New
Jersey
Mirrors National Trend
Court statistics showed
that just 26,000 people filed for bankruptcy protection in
size='3'>New Jersey
the 12-month period ending in September, representing a significant
drop-off from the 43,000 filings in 2005, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Newark Star-Ledger
size='3'>reported yesterday. National filings during the same 12-month
period dropped almost 38 percent to 1.1. million nationally, according
to a report from the administrative office of the federal courts.
'Congress had in mind principally to reduce filings, and from that
standpoint they can say 'mission accomplished,'' said ABI Executive
Director
href='http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-5/1168148709272840.xml&coll=1'>Read
more.
IRS,
Trustee Object to Foamex Plan
The U.S. Trustee and the
Internal Revenue Service objected last week to Foamex International
Inc’s. chapter 11 reorganization plan, Bankruptcy Law360
reported on Friday. The IRS, which has an $8,612
unsecured priority claim against Foamex, argued that the administrative
bar date is unreasonably short. The IRS also argues that the plan fails
to provide an adequate rate of interest on the agency’s claim.
U.S. Trustee Kelly Beaudin
Stapleton also argued in a motion filed
Thursday that the proposed releases by claimants and interest-holders is
overbroad. A judge is scheduled to consider confirming the
reorganization plan on Feb. 1.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=15879'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='7'>Distributor’s Bankruptcy Rattles Book
Industry
Book publishers braced
themselves for a financial blow this week after a bankruptcy filing by
book distributor Advanced Marketing Services, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>New York Times
size='3'>reported on Friday. The company filed for bankruptcy protection
on Dec. 29, reporting more than $200 million in debt to dozens of
publishing companies. Its creditors included publishers large and small,
among them Random House, which is owed $43.3 million, and Good Books of
Intercourse, Pa., which specializes in books about the Amish and the
Mennonites and is owed nearly $1 million. According to the bankruptcy
filing, Advanced Marketing Services has been looking for additional
financing or a buyer for the last 18 months, enlisting the investment
bank Jeffries & Company in the search.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/business/media/05books.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin'>Read
more.
International
name='8'>German Personal Bankruptcies Rise in
October
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Germany
size='3'>’s Federal Statistics Office reported today that the
number households filing for bankruptcy soared during October, but the
number of companies going insolvent dipped from a year ago, the
Associated Press reported today. The number of households filing for
bankruptcy in
size='3'>Europe
38.6 percent to 8,298 filings, up from 5,989 in October 2005. In the
first 10 months of 2006, household insolvencies were up 36.9 percent to
75,140. The agency, Destatis, said that 2,349 companies filed for
bankruptcy in October, down 16.9 percent from 2,828 a year earlier, part
of an ongoing two-year trend of such declines.
href='http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/08/europe/EU-FIN-ECO-Germany-Bankruptcies.php'>Read
more.
name='9'>Study: Pension Risks Vary Widely in European Union
States
Aon Consulting said in a
report released today that companies may avoid moving to some European
Union countries because of the risk of high pension costs, Reuters
reported today. Based on an analysis of 25 European Union nations and
tracking factors like demographic trends and the affordability of
company pensions, Aon said
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Denmark
is the country with the lowest risk of rising pension
costs and
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Belgium
size='3'>has the highest risk.
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Denmark
lowest overall numeric risk score of 1, followed respectively by
size='3'>Estonia
size='3'>Ireland
size='3'>Latvia
size='3'>Netherlands
the
size='3'>United Kingdom
size='3'>,
size='3'>Sweden,
size='3'>Spain,
size='3'>
and the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Czech
size='3'>Republic
size='3'>.
href='http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=fundsNews2&storyID=2007-01-08T060009Z_01_L05287396_RTRIDST_0_AON-PENSION-EUROPE-EMBARGOED.XML'>Read
more.
name='10'>British Airways Reaches Pension Deal with
Unions
British Airways Plc said it
reached a deal with its four main trade unions to fix its £2.1
billion ($4.05 billion) pension deficit, MarketWatch.com reported on
Friday. The airline said that it will make a one-time contribution of
£800 million to the pension fund, subject to acceptance of benefit
changes. That contribution, combined with a one-time employee saving of
£400 million and changes to future benefits, will cut the pension
deficit by more than half to £900 million, BA said. The airline
said its contributions to the pension fund will stand at about £280
href='http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/british-airways-reaches-pension-deal/story.aspx?guid=%7B7AF4F61F-3B9F-4025-80EC-8FF301A766AD%7D'>Read
more< /A>.
name='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'>AirTran Holdings Inc., the holding
company for AirTran Airways of Orlando, Fl., expects to report a fourth
quarter loss, citing increased competition as well as a decline in its
average passenger numbers per plane. This is
in spite of its passenger traffic increasing 16% during the quarter--to
3.4 million revenue passenger miles.
size='3'>BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. of
size='3'>Natick
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Mass.
to close 46 of its in-club pharmacies as well as two of its ProFoods
Restaurant Supply locations. The company
anticipates its lower-than anticipated sales and margins will result in
fourth quarter earnings falling below expectations.
size='3'>BJ's also expects to establish a reserve of as much as $22
million for its restructuring efforts.
Gap Inc.,
the
Francisco
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Calif.
reported its same-sales for its five weeks, ended 12/30, declined 8%
while overall sales fell 4%. The 8% decline
in same-store sales compares with a 9% decline for the same period one
year earlier. It should be noted that the
Gap reduced its 2006 fiscal guidance to between 83 cents and 87
cents. The company previously anticipated
earnings of as much as $1.06 per share.
size='3'>Pier 1 Imports Inc., the
size='3'>Fort Worth
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Texas
furniture and accessories, reported its December sales declined nearly
11%--to $242.5 million. Same-store sales declined
10.7%.
size='3'>Sharper Image Corp., the
size='3'>San Francisco
size='3'>Calif.
retailer which recently reduced its former CEO's severance package,
reported its December sales declined 22%--to $117.7
million. Same-store sales declined 20% for
the period while catalog and direct marketing sales fell
42%. Internet sales also declined
22%.
size='3'>St. Paul Pioneer Press, which only
last month saw 30 of its employees take buyout offers after a union
decision to reject the company's restructuring of its employee pension
plan, has now laid off additional workers at the newspaper.
The cuts amount to nearly 5% of the company's overall
workforce.