A panel representing Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.’s unsecured creditors reached a deal to resolve disputes over a restructuring plan with the bankrupt casino company and lenders controlled by billionaire Carl Icahn, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The settlement “allows us to support the plan” and opens a path for Trump Entertainment to exit bankruptcy on schedule, Karen A. Giannelli, a lawyer for the unsecured creditors’ committee. Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy Sept. 9 and shut the Trump Plaza days later, one of four Atlantic City casinos that closed last year as the New Jersey gambling hub was battered by competition from surrounding states. The Trump Taj Mahal remains open after weathering multiple threatened closings and has secured financing from the Icahn group to keep running until the turnaround plan takes effect. Under the plan, the Icahn lenders would get control of the two casinos through a conversion of debt into equity in the reorganized company. The unsecured creditors had opposed Trump Entertainment’s reorganization plan, backed by the Icahn lenders, because they would only get to split a $1 million fund, for a recovery of less than 1 percent, according to court documents.
