Skip to main content

%1

Fisker Fields 20 Million Offer from Bob Lutz Wanxiang

Submitted by webadmin on

A team including former General Motors Co. executive Bob Lutz and China's largest parts maker is looking to buy Fisker Automotive for $20 million, a fraction of the "green" car company's estimated worth almost a year and a half ago, Reuters reported yesterday. VL Automotive, a venture between Lutz and industrialist Gilbert Villarreal, and China's Wanxiang Group submitted the bid earlier this month to buy Fisker through a pre-packaged bankruptcy deal. This is one of at least two investor groups looking to gain control of Fisker, which has not built a car since July. Earlier this year, the company hired bankruptcy advisers and fired the bulk of its staff, while continuing to seek a buyer.

Printer TPO Hess Holdings Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Submitted by webadmin on

TPO Hess Holdings Inc., a printer of commercial and educational materials, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors, citing a slump in the industry and the global economic downturn, Bloomberg News reported today. The Kent, Ohio-based company, formerly known as Hess Print Solutions, today listed assets of as much as $50,000 and debt of as much as $100 million in a court filing in Delaware. After a turnaround effort, the company “continued to be adversely affected by overall macroeconomic challenges, industry wide overcapacity and increased pricing pressure” from competitors, according to court papers. The company plans a sale to Bang Printing of Ohio, subject to an auction, for about $19.2 million, court papers show.

Video Game Maker Atari Seeks Court Approval for Sale of Assets

Submitted by webadmin on

Video game maker Atari Inc. is seeking court approval for the sale of all its assets as it works its way out of bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported yesterday. The company said on Tuesday that it tried looking for a buyer with the help of its investment banker Perella Weinberg Partners, but was unable to find a stalking-horse bid acceptable to it. Atari has set a minimum bid of $15 million for the Atari brand. The company received a $5 million debtor-in-possession financing from Alden Global Value Recovery Master Fund LP.

Elpida Seeks U.S. Court Approval for Sale to Micron

Submitted by webadmin on

Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. asked a bankruptcy court yesterday to enforce its reorganization plan sale to Micron Technologies Inc., a final step to creating the world's second-largest maker of memory chips, Reuters reported yesterday. Boise, Idaho-based Micron has been losing money as the market for personal computers steadily loses ground to smartphones and tablets. Acquiring Elpida will allow Micron to create greater economies of scale and will rank the company behind Samsung Electronics in the memory chip market. The majority of Elpida's secured and unsecured creditors approved the plan, which included the sale of assets to Micron for 60 billion yen ($582 million) in cash and another 140 billion yen ($1.36 billion) paid in annual installments until 2019.

Lehman Australia Liquidator Wins Approval for Vote

Submitted by webadmin on

The liquidator for Lehman Brothers Holding Inc.’s Australian unit won federal court approval for a creditors’ vote on a proposed claims settlement giving them up to about half of what they’re owed, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Creditors will be paid between 33 Australian cents and 49.9 cents for each dollar of debt in the local currency, John Sheahan, a lawyer for PPB Advisory, the liquidator, said at a hearing in federal court in Sydney today. U.S. insurers agreed to pay $45 million and Australian insurers A$3 million ($2.9 million) to fund the settlement, Sheahan said. Litigation funder IMF (Australia) Ltd. previously agreed to drop a class action lawsuit against the firm as part of the settlement.

KidsPeace Files Bankruptcy Blaming Government Spending Cuts

Submitted by webadmin on

KidsPeace Corp., the owner of a nonprofit psychiatric hospital for teenagers in Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy, blaming government spending cuts for its financial woes, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company will try to use bankruptcy to reduce its bond debt to $24 million from $51.3 million and to trim pension obligations that may exceed $100 million, according to an affidavit filed yesterday by Chief Executive Officer William R. Isemann. KidsPeace owes creditors more than $100 million and has assets valued at less than $50 million, according to its chapter 11 filing.

Atlantic Citys Revel Casino Exits Bankruptcy Court by Giving Lenders 82 Percent Stake

Submitted by webadmin on

Revel, a brand new but struggling Atlantic City casino, has formally emerged from bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The pre-packaged chapter 11 filing wiped out $1.2 billion of the casino’s $1.5 billion in debt by giving lenders an 82 percent ownership stake. Revel posted a $149 million operating loss from its April 2, 2012, opening through the end of March 2013.

Dishs Ergen Said to Bid 2 Billion for LightSquareds Spectrum

Submitted by webadmin on

Charlie Ergen, chairman of satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp., made a $2 billion bid for radio frequencies from LightSquared Inc., the bankrupt wireless-broadband company owned by Philip Falcone’s hedge-fund firm, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Ergen has offered to buy the spectrum even though the Federal Communications Commission has yet to approve its use. Reston, Va.-based LightSquared filed for bankruptcy last year after regulators blocked approval to build its network on concern it would interfere with global-positioning system signals. LightSquared would use the proceeds from selling its airwaves to pay off secured debt, according to the people. The company has until May 31 to accept the offer, which was made May 15.

Judge Gives Final Approval to A123 Bankruptcy Plan

Submitted by webadmin on

A bankruptcy judge has given final approval to the reorganization plan of failed battery maker A123 Systems Inc., which was the recipient of a $249 million Department of Energy grant, the Associated Press reported yesterday. A court hearing yesterday resolved minor outstanding issues following the sale of most of the company’s assets to the U.S. arm of Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group Corp. for nearly $257 million. One issue was approval of a settlement involving the Waltham, Mass.-based company, now known as B456 Systems, its official creditors' committee, and Milwaukee-based auto parts maker Johnson Controls Inc. The committee had suggested that JCI improperly lobbied to torpedo the sale to Wanxiang after losing out on the bidding. Johnson Controls has agreed to pay $200,000 to the bankruptcy estate, and the committee will drop any claims against JCI.

Oreck Family Offers 22 Million for Vacuum Company

Submitted by webadmin on

The Oreck family is rallying to take back their namesake vacuum-cleaner company from private equity owners in a deal valued at $22 million — a price that founder David Oreck hints is cheaper than what he sold the business for a decade ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Oreck has never stately publicly how much he profited from the 2003 sale of his company. But while his three sons lead the charge to buy the company’s 96 retail stores and 250-worker manufacturing plant in Tennessee out of bankruptcy, Oreck pointed out that the value of the business has certainly fallen in recent years. Oreck Corp. filed for chapter 11 protection on May 6, saying that the business has struggled against competitors and that sales have declined since 2010. The company has changed hands since the Oreck family sold it in 2003, and it’s now controlled by Black Diamond Commercial Finance LLC.