A group of McClatchy Co.’s least-protected creditors yesterday joined the federal pension agency in questioning transactions involving the local news company’s largest lender, which would take ownership under the chapter 11 reorganization plan submitted last month, McClatchy.com reported. In a brief filed in federal bankruptcy court in New York, lawyers for the “unsecured” creditors took issue with McClatchy’s request to speed the proceedings and sought time to examine what they called “suspect” financial dealings. “The Suspect Transactions … (can’t) go without independent scrutiny based on specious assertions that the Debtors are a proverbial melting ice cube that cannot afford any delay,” the filing states. In the initial hearing on Feb. 14, lawyers for McClatchy and Chatham Asset Management urged the judge to move swiftly to lift the cloud of bankruptcy and allow the media company to return to normal operations. The allegations are similar to arguments made by the government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation during the opening bankruptcy hearing.
