The bankruptcy turnaround effort of the country’s largest chain of radio stations, iHeartMedia Inc., is off to a pricey start, according to court documents that reveal the company has been spending, on average, $7.7 million per month for bankruptcy advice, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. And that’s just a slice of the professional fee costs for iHeart, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after nearly a year of negotiations about how to shake out a debt overload. iHeart told a bankruptcy judge in Houston Thrusday that it expects to file a chapter 11 plan soon, starting the process of cementing deals reached before its March 14 bankruptcy filing. In broad outline, iHeart wants to swap out about $10 billion of its $16 billion debt load, exchanging the debt for equity in a reorganized company. By the end of its chapter 11 proceeding, the radio giant will be picking up the tab for advisers to an official committee representing unsecured creditors and for advisers to creditors that have agreed to support its restructuring strategy. It is also paying for advisers to the owners that loaded it with debt, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
