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August 9, 2006
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id='1'>San
Diego
size='3'> Broke Laws in Pension Crisis, Panel
Says
Independent experts
brought in to help San Diego dig its way out of a deepening financial
hole said yesterday that city officials broke federal securities laws
and other statutes as they tried to conceal their failure to put enough
money into the city’s pension fund for police, firefighters and
other public employees, the
size='3'>New York Times reported today. The
investigators, led by a former Securities and Exchange Commission
chairman, Arthur Levitt Jr., recommended that
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Diego be placed under the
supervision of an independent monitor who would report to the SEC.
“The city’s pension system was not brought to a crisis
merely as a result of abnormally low investment returns,” Mr.
Levitt told city officials, dismissing an explanation frequently cited
for pension problems in San Diego and elsewhere. Instead, Mr. Levitt
said, “
size='3'>San Diego
to the same type of corruption of financial management and reporting
that afflicted municipalities such as
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Orange
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>County
such private sector companies as Enron, HealthSouth and any number of
public corporations.” Levitt said the city needed to strengthen
its internal financial controls, and recommended that a permanent audit
committee be established to provide continuous independent oversight. He
also recommended that senior city officials be required to personally
certify that financial reports were accurate, much as top corporate
executives have been required to do under the post-Enron reform law
known as Sarbanes-Oxley.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/business/09pension.html?pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Autos
id='2'>Dana Shareholders Warn
Against Cutting Benefits
A group of equity
securityholders for bankrupt Dana Corp. has cautioned that modifying
employee retirement benefits may end up hurting the struggling auto
parts supplier,
size='3'>Portfolio Media reported yesterday.
In a Friday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, two
hedge funds, Appaloosa Management L.P. and Harbinger Capital Masters
Fund, and mutual fund Brandes Investment Partners—comprising
Dana’s equity securityholders’ committee—cautioned
against Dana altering the benefits it currently offers retirees. Last
month, Dana asked the judge in its chapter 11 case to appoint a
committee to represent the interests of retirees, providing clues that
it might be eyeing
cuts to retirees’ benefits. The equity committee said that it is
not objecting to the retired employee committee because Dana would be
able to negotiate with the group should the company at some point decide
to modify benefits. However, the equity committee did say that if there
were discussions about benefit modifications, it would like to
“have a seat at the table.” A hearing on the matter is
scheduled for this week.
Pares Obligations for
Pensions, Health Care
General Motors Corp. said
it has reduced its projected
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>pension-benefit obligation by $3.9 billion and its
post-retirement health care obligation by $19.3 billion, the
Wall Street Journal
reported today. The automaker attributed the adjustments
to its recently completed accelerated attrition program, under which
34,400 people elected to take early retirement or buyout packages, and
changes to the discount rate used to calculate obligations. GM disclosed
the adjustments in its second-quarter report filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. At the end of last year, GM's projected pension
obligation was $89 billion. In the SEC filing, GM said that has been
reduced to about $85 billion due to the changes. The automaker, which is
struggling to remain competitive in
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>North America
size='3'>with foreign automakers that have leaner cost structures, said
the attrition program allowed GM to pull ahead of its job-cut target,
announced in 2005, by two years. GM had planned to cut 30,000 jobs by
the end of 2008.
Airlines
id='4'>Flight Attendants,
Pilots Condemn
w:st='on'>
size='3'>US
size='3'>Airways CEO
As US Airways struggles to get
back on its feet after a crippling bankruptcy, the airline’s chief
executive officer has infuriated flight attendants and pilots by
exercising options for 270,000 shares of company stock, netting himself
upwards of $9 million, Portfolio Media reported yesterday.
On Tuesday, the unions representing both US Airways' flight attendants
and pilots blasted W. Douglas Parker over his lucrative move in the
aftermath of widespread salary cuts stemming from the carrier’s
bankruptcy. The Association of Flight Attendants and the Air Line Pilots
Association are currently engaged in talks to merge the workforces of US
Airways and America West Airlines. With employees still recovering from
the financial strain, the unions attacked Parker and other US Airways
executives, saying that officials deliberately kept employee
compensation low during merger negotiations in order to enrich their own
coffers. The unions also blasted the carrier for promising to hike
managers’ salaries by 3 percent this fall, while offering no such
bump to the rank-and-file employees.
id='5'>Delta Asks to Outsource
Tech Maintenance
Delta Air Lines Inc.
asked a bankruptcy judge Tuesday to let the nation's third-largest
carrier use IBM Corp. rather than its own employees to maintain its
computer systems, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Under the
deal, IBM would be responsible for operating and maintaining Delta's
mainframe and other computer hardware. About 200 of the 1,800 employees
in Delta's technology unit would be affected, though it's unclear how
many might lose their jobs. Terms of the deal with Armonk, N.Y.-based
IBM were not disclosed in the court filing. An IBM spokesman declined to
comment. A hearing on the request, if necessary, is set for Aug. 22 in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
w:st='on'>New
York
href='http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Delta-Bankruptcy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
id='6'>Bankruptcy Judge Approves
Northwest Debt Plan
Bankruptcy Judge
Allan Gropper
size='3'>approved Northwest Airlines’ motion to refinance an
existing $1.125 billion loan and to take an additional $250 million in
debt so that Northwest Airlines Corp. can have greater liquidity, the
Associated Press reported yesterday. The refinancing would save
Northwest about $34 million a year in interest payments and another $900
million in debt repayment through 2010, the company wrote in a filing.
All objections that had been filed were withdrawn or deferred to be
discussed at a later hearing. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
and JPMorgan Chase Bank were among those objecting to the loan deal,
which was done with Citigroup Inc. Northwest also asked the court for
approval to convert the loan into exit financing once it completes its
restructuring plan to emerge from bankruptcy. Before completing its
reorganization plan, the company must resolve its pension funding
obligations.
href='http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060808/northwest_bankruptcy.html?.v=3&printer=1'>Read
more.
In related news, flight
attendants at Northwest Airlines tomorrow will fight in bankruptcy court
for the right to stage a strike that could cripple or kill the airline,
the Wall Street
Journal reported today. While the airline says
a strike would be illegal, the Association of Flight Attendants union
believes Northwest's unilateral imposition of new terms last week
triggered the right to strike. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge
Allan Gropper
size='3'>will hear arguments tomorrow on whether to block the strike.
Sheryl Willert, a labor and employment lawyer for Williams, Kastner
& Gibbs in
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Seattle
there's 'no clear path' to guide Judge Gropper. 'We just don't have any
case law' says Willert, who doesn't represent the union or the airline.
No talks between the two sides are currently scheduled. If Judge Gropper
blocks a strike, the attendants are likely to appeal. Northwest is
legally bound to continue bargaining, and if the union holds its ground,
it could over time regain its right to strike.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115495411782728637-search.html?KEYWORDS=bankruptcy&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>
id='7'>U.S.
size='3'> Trustee Defends Move to
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Split
Creditors
In the first public
explanation of her decision to split Refco Inc.’s unsecured
creditors’ committee, U.S. Trustee Diana G. Adams
said on Tuesday that the move had been necessary to
salvage a “bitterly divided committee,”
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Portfolio Media
size='3'>reported yesterday. The controversial move to expel six members
of the nine-member committee was not intended to
“disenfranchise” the unsecured creditors,
w:st='on'>Adams
said. She asked the judge not to reverse her
decision.
size='3'>Adams
Refco’s creditors' committee had helped lead investigations
resulting in the recovery of nearly $900 million that were lost after
the company’s October bankruptcy, members started to quarrel over
a settlement in April that led to a decrease in the
committee’s effectiveness. The squabble was over $263 million from
a collapsing hedge fund in April. Opinion was split over how the money
should be allocated to creditors, with four members refusing to leave
the decision to the administrator of Refco unit Refco Capital Markets
Ltd. The Refco Capital Markets administrator, Marc Kirschner, reached a
tentative settlement last month promising at least $2.3 billion to
creditors and customers, but
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Adams
size='3'>found that the terms clearly indicated that some signatories
“could no longer serve as fiduciaries for all general unsecured
creditors.”
id='8'>Heating Oil Partners Emerges
from Bankruptcy
Eleven months after
filing its chapter 11 plan, Heating Oil Partners L.P. has emerged from
bankruptcy with a new name,
size='3'>Portfolio Media reported yesterday. A
group of private investors led by Longroad Asset Management has bought
the company, now known as HOP Energy LLC. The Darien, Conn.-based
company’s chapter 11 plan was approved by the federal bankruptcy
court in
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Connecticut
June 15 and went into effect Friday. Pre-petition secured lenders will
have their claims totally satisfied and receive about $111 million in
total. Unsecured claimholders will divvy up a settlement fund pro
rata, and receive only a fraction of their asserted claims. The
reorganization plan called for $525,000 to be distributed to unsecured
creditors, whose claims totaled more than $3 million. The new company
has a $125 million exit loan from JPMorgan Chase to help with future
costs and with the refinancing of its existing debtor-in-possession
facility.
id='9'>Owens
size='3'>Corning
Sell Stock after Exit from Bankruptcy
Fiberglass maker Owens
Corning has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue
shares of its new stock as part of its plan to exit its six-year chapter
11 bankruptcy, the
size='3'>Toledo Blade reported today. Owens
Corning said yesterday it is in the process of getting the stock listed
on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘OC.’ The
company announced it would issue 131.4 million new shares, with a
presumed market valuation of $3.9 billion, much of which would go to its
bondholders. Ultimately, the bankruptcy plan, currently being voted on
by thousands of creditors, would provide $5.2 billion to pay asbestos
victims and $2.5 billion for banks and some other creditors.
href='http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/BUSINESS03/608090433'>Read
more.
In related news, a U.S.
Trustee denied one law firm’s attempt to file a compensation
request against Owens Corning,
size='3'>Portfolio Media reported yesterday.
Trustee Kelly Beaudin
Stapleton denied Motley Rice LLC its request
for reimbursement of expenses from Nov. 25, 2002, to May 31, 2006. The
interim request was for a total of $8,955.55 in relation to duties
representing asbestos claimants’ committee member Elmer
Richardson. Stapleton said that there is no evidence that Motley Rice
was the attorney for Elmer Richardson at all.
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Richardson
listed as under the care of law firm Cumbest, Cumbest, Hunter &
McCormick PA. The request was denied on Monday.
id='10'>Fees Mounting in
Bankruptcy of
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Las Vegas
Lender
The effort to settle the
bankruptcy case of embattled lending firm USA Capital is costing
investors $550,800 each week, according to court documents, the
Associated Press reported yesterday. The documents show that payments to
attorneys, interim managers and other professionals handling the
bankruptcy of the Las Vegas-based hard-money lender had totaled about
$7.2 million by the end of July. The company
had $962 million in assets when it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in April, stunning 3,200 investors in mortgage loan funds and
3,600 individuals who bought fractional interests in individual loans.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
size='3'>Linda Riegle compared USA Capital
with a Ponzi scheme and has not yet approved the fees.
href='http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/aug/08/080810607.html'>Read
more.
id='11'>Banks Raising Fees on Credit
Card Transfers
As interest rates have
risen and more consumers transfer credit card balances to lower-rate
cards, banks are raising fees and imposing tighter restrictions on these
deals, USA
Today reported today. As a result, it's become
more expensive for consumers to take advantage of popular low-rate
balance-transfer deals. The changes come as balance transfers have been
gaining appeal as a way for cardholders to offset swelling finance
charges brought on by rising interest rates. This month, American
Express raised the fixed rate on balances transferred to its 'Blue'
credit card to 4.99 percent from 3.99 percent. Chase and MBNA, which was
acquired this year by Bank of America, have lifted their caps on
balance-transfer fees for some cards. For years, many Bank of America
credit cards have had no ceiling on balance-transfer fees, spokeswoman
Betty Riess says.
href='http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2006-08-09-card-offer-usat_x.htm'>Read
more.
href='http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2006-08-09-card-offer-usat_x.htm'>