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February 9, 2007
id='1'>Northwest Shareholders Subpoena Financial Info
The equity
securityholders’ committee for Northwest Airlines Corp. has
subpoenaed several companies in an attempt to learn more about the
bankrupt airline's merger prospects and financial status,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. The subpoenas ask for valuations of
the airline, including assets and liabilities; documents concerning each
transaction, consolidation or sale between Northwest and any other
entity, including Delta Air Lines; and documents to show the claims
against Northwest and the validity of the claims against it. The
subpoenas were issued to United Airlines parent UAL Corp., Continental
Airlines Inc., Northwest bankruptcy consultant Seabury Group, and the
Blackstone Group, a private equity fund that is a financial advisor for
Delta Air Lines Inc., the unsecured creditors' committee, Deutsche Bank
and Lehman Brothers.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=18269'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
id='2'>Entergy's Unsecured Creditors Decide Not to Put Rival
Proposal Up for Vote
After presenting the
bankruptcy court with a rival reorganization plan, the unsecured
creditors’ committee of Entergy New Orleans has decided not to
send its proposal out to creditors for a vote, Bankruptcy
Law360 reported yesterday. Earlier this week, the committee said
that it had no intention to solicit votes for the plan from creditors,
maintaining that the proposal does not impair any creditor classes. U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Jerry
Brown signed off on Entergy’s disclosure
statement on Monday, but decided that it would be moot to approve the
committee’s plan in light of the revelation.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>The proposal put forth by the energy
company will now be the only one voted on by creditors, with ballots due
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=18232'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
AMS
Seeks Retention Plan Approval
Book marketer Advanced
Marketing Services Inc. has asked a bankruptcy court to approve the
company’s retention bonus plan for more than 100 employees at a
publishing unit the company is looking to sell this summer,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. The
San Diego-based company requested Wednesday that the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the District of Delaware sign off on the $750,850 bonus plan
to retain key employees of Publishers Group West Inc. as it switches its
distribution services to independent publisher Perseus Books LLC. The
117 employees will receive bonuses ranging from $303 to $45,900,
contingent upon their compensation and ongoing employment through July
31, when the sale of Advanced Marketing’s distribution unit is
anticipated to close. The case is
size='3'>Advanced Marketing Services Inc.,
case number 06-11480, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of
Delaware.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=18204'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Suit
Accuses NYRA of Withholding Winnings
Lien Games Racing LLC, a
North Dakota-based bet processing company, filed an adversary suit on
Tuesday against the bankrupt New York Racing Association, claiming that
the association is attempting to avoid a $1.6 million debt,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. The NYRA owes Lien Games, which
operates Off Track Betting (OTB) establishments and processes bets, is
owed $1,634,303.97 for winning bets placed through Lien Games’
facilities, the complaint says. The complaint accuses the NYRA of
violating New York racing law by asserting ownership of commingled funds
in “pari-mutuel pools” that belong to winning bettors and
depriving Lien Games of its access to those funds through “the
false premise that Lien games is merely an unsecured
creditor.”
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=18270'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
id='5'>Tripath Technology Files for Chapter 11
Tripath Technology Inc. filed
for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern
District of California, according to a company press release
today. The
size='3'>San Jose
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Calif.-
semiconductor company provides power amplification products to the
digital media, consumer electronics and communications markets.
Tripath’s customers include such companies as Alcatel,
Alpine,
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Hitachi
Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.
href='http://sanjose.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=107244&type_news=latest'>Read
more.
w:st='on'>
id='6'>Kansas
Bankruptcy
Shayne Yonce and Amanda
Yonce, owners of Christian Dimension Inc., have filed for chapter 7
bankruptcy, claiming assets of $228,000 and debts of $2.2 million,
the
size='3'>Wichita
size='3'>(
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Kan.
size='3'>) Eagle reported today. In addition
to an expensive acquisition of a computer retailer, the 58-page
bankruptcy filing is a notation that the company had a $25,000 loss
because of an 'embezzlement by CFO.' The filing does not identify the
name of the chief financial officer with the date of the loss in
2005-06.
href='http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/business/16657165.htm'>Read
more.
Funds Receiving Greater Attention from Regulators
With as many as 9,000
hedge funds in existence, federal regulators, state authorities and
lawmakers are increasingly looking to the funds to determine if fraud
and risky trading are involved in their operations, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Washington Post
size='3'>reported today. This week, the Securities and Exchange
Commission staff confirmed that it was conducting a sweeping inquiry
into whether hedge funds are misusing information they receive from
investment banks to get a jump on trades and sweeten their profits. Last
week, federal prosecutors in
w:st='on'>New
York
manager with criminal securities fraud, saying it cost investors $88
million. And today, German officials are putting hedge fund risks at the
top of the agenda of the Group of Eight meeting in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Essen
size='3'>Germany
size='3'>.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020801829.html'>Read
more.
id='8'>Auto Dealer Challenges
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Detroit
Production System
Michael J. Jackson, CEO
of AutoNation Inc., the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>'s largest chain of auto dealers, wants
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Detroit
how it makes cars due to scores of 'orphan' vehicles that have been
sitting on car lots due to unwanted or unnecessary features,
the Wall Street
Journal reported today. One of the toughest
problems facing the ailing U.S. car industry stems from Detroit's
century-old business model, which dates to Henry Ford's mass production
of millions of largely identical Model T's. Rather than build cars to
suit customer tastes, he said,
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>automakers churn out what makes sense for their plants, and
then use incentives and rebates to lure buyers. The thirst for revenue
to pay for mounting health care and pension costs has further encouraged
companies to keep plants running regardless of demand. In years past, it
was dealers who suffered as this excess inventory in the form of unsold
cars sat on their lots. However the rise of powerful national dealership
chains, exemplified by
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Jackson
AutoNation, has changed the equation. He's pushed
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Detroit
production more than it wants and has cut orders when it hasn't
responded.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117098933533703281-search.html?KEYWORDS=bankruptcy&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
International
id='9'>Chevron Interested in Yukos’ Assets
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S. oil
company Chevron Corp. has expressed interest in acquiring assets of
bankrupt oil giant OAO Yukos, the Associated Press reported
today. Nikolai Lashkevich, a spokesman for
Yukos bankruptcy supervisor Eduard Rebgun, said that several
international companies had inquired about participating in any auction
or selloff of the assets of Yukos, which was once
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Russia
largest oil producer. Yesterday,
size='3'>Russia
state-controlled gas monopoly OAO Gazprom said major
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>energy companies were interested in acquiring assets of Yukos,
which was forced into bankruptcy by government tax claims alongside the
prosecution of its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Yukos' remaining
assets include units that produce some 470,000 barrels per day as well
as two refineries. The bankruptcy supervisor is readying the company for
a series of auctions. Analysts expect them to be dominated by Gazprom
and OAO Rosneft, which is also state-controlled and close to the
Kremlin.
href='http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070209/business/russia_yukos_bankruptcy_1'>Read
more.
id='10'>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.
To begin receiving the COMPLETE
Daily e-Summary, that emails you information on over 70 such companies
each morning, email
face='Times New Roman' color='#0000ff'
size='3'>steve@creditnews.comyour
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Deltic
Timber Corp., an
w:st='on'>
Dorado
reported a first quarter net loss of $2 million. Revenue declined
42%--to $26.8 million.
size='3'>Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester,N.Y.,
which is hoping its three-year restructuring will be completed by 12/31
resulting in restructuring costs of as much as $1 billion this year, has
increased its number of layoffs during the three year period to 30,000,
nearly 2,000 greater than had been projected.
size='3'>InFocus Corp., a Wilsonville, Or.
maker of projectors, reported a fourth quarter net loss of $13.3
million, down from a $79.8 million loss in the year-earlier
period. Revenue sank 35%--to $83.9 million. For the year, it lost
$61.9 million on a 30% revenue decline--to $375 million. The quarter and
year included restructuring charges of more than $2.6 million and $5.4
million respectively. The company hopes to win more revenue from newer
products in the first half of the year, although CEO Kyle Ranson
conceded that competition will continue to be 'aggressive' in the first
quarter.
size='3'>Navistar International Corp.'s shares
will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange as a result of late
filings. The Warrenville, Il. maker of trucks, which still hasn't
reported its financial results for its fiscal year ended in October of
2005, has been listed on the NYSE for ninety-nine
years.
size='3'>SafeNet Inc., a Harford County, Md.
information-security firm, is being delisted from the Nasdaq Stock
Market, pending a panel review. The firm has been under
investigation since last May for alleged stock-options
backdating.
size='3'>Tribune Co., Chicago, Il., may have a
new bidder, with Sam Zell, a
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Chicago
size='3'>real-estate investor, reportedly approaching the media giant
with a proposal to take over the company. Mr. Zell's Equity Office
Properties Trust recently agreed to be purchased by Blackstone Group
of
York
billion.