IBahn Corp., a provider of Internet services to hotels, sought bankruptcy protection in Delaware, citing a loss of contracts with largest customer Marriott International Inc. and patent litigation costs, Bloomberg News reported today. IBahn Chief Financial Officer Ryan Jonson said that the company had assets of $13.6 million and it listed liabilities of as much as $50 million in the chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday. Salt Lake City-based IBahn said that it has appointed Edward Helvey as its new chief executive officer and that it will continue to operate as it restructures. The case is In re iBahn Corp., 13-12285. U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware (Wilmington).
ABI’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 will hold its fourth public hearing of 2013 from 3-5 p.m. ET following ABI’s Bankruptcy Fundamentals: Nuts & Bolts for Young and New Practitioners Program in New York City. Two panels of expert witnesses will provide their testimony on chapter 11 issues before the Commission. Issues to be discussed include financial contracts, derivatives, safe harbor, orderly liquidation authority, chapter 14 and other alternatives. To watch a live webcast of the hearing, view the witness list and access the prepared witness testimony, be sure to visit http://commission.abi.org.
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines won court approval for a new contract with its pilots union, a deal that cuts labor costs and boosts the airline's effort to exit bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The agreement, approved at a hearing yesterday by Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane, comes after American secured new contracts with unions representing flight attendants and mechanics as part of its restructuring. Judge Lane said that the agreement with the Allied Pilots Association is a significant step to resolving the bankruptcy case that began more than a year ago and helps achieve “long-term viability” for the airline.
The primary industry group for the corporate loan market warned that any attempt to limit the rights of secured creditors in the event of a bankruptcy could have a broader impact on companies' access to and cost of capital, the Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal reported today. The comments by the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) were aimed at the American Bankruptcy Institute's Chapter 11 Commission, which is currently studying the 1978 bankruptcy code for areas in need of updating. The LSTA's general counsel Elliot Ganz announced the formation of a working group on the ABI's review that any attempt to limit secured creditors' rights could limit companies' access to capital both before and after bankruptcy, because lenders will feel less protected. Robert Keach, co-chair of the ABI Chapter 11 Commission, said that the Commission has so far only identified the role of secured debt in bankruptcies as an area of study and hasn’t taken any position on the issue. "The ABI commission is certainly not looking at the prevalence of secured debt that’s occurred over the last 30 years as a problem to be solved," he said. "We mentioned it in the mission statement because there have been changes that have occurred over time that have made the current Code somewhat obsolete."
The next hearing of ABI's Chapter 11 Commission will be on Thursday, Nov. 15, at the CFA Annual Convention in Phoenix. For more information on the public hearing schedule and the work of the Commission, please click here: http://commission.abi.org/
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. sued Wells Fargo & Co., Barclays Plc and Curt Schilling, the former chairman of video-game maker 38 Studios LLC, claiming that undisclosed risks led to the bankruptcy of the company, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The banks and Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher who founded 38 Studios, did not disclose to the state's economic development organization the negative information about the company’s financial projections and business plan, according to a filing today in Rhode Island Superior Court. The EDC board in 2010 approved the issuance of $75 million in bonds to finance a loan to allow 38 Studios to move to Providence, R.I., from Massachusetts and complete a multiplayer online game called Copernicus. The company had not yet published a video game, according to the complaint.
ABI's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, whose 22 members constitute a venerable bankruptcy industry Hall of Fame, held a hearing yesterday to gather feedback on what is right and wrong with the statutory scheme that has governed chapter 11 bankruptcy since 1978, Reuters reported. The commission's charge includes "literally considering starting from scratch and re-inventing the statute," said Robert Keach, attorney and commission co-chairman. The commission plans to eventually submit a report to Congress, targeted for April, 2014, that could serve as "part blueprint, part outline" for new legislation, Keach said. The commission will study 13 areas of bankruptcy law, including labor & benefits issues, financing rules and government supervision. It is collecting feedback from several groups through a series of hearings, with upcoming dates at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in San Diego on Oct. 26, and a convention of trade group the Turnaround Management Association in Boston on Nov. 3. Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/18/bankruptcy-reform-idUSL1E8LHP…
To obtain the prepared witness testimony from yesterday's hearing, view background information on the Commission members or to see upcoming dates of activity, please click here: http://commission.abi.org/
The owner of a land parcel where Tri-Valley Corp. drills for oil filed a lawsuit against the oil-and gas-exploration company, asking the court to terminate the lease agreement because of Tri-Valley's alleged violations, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. The lawsuit, filed as part of Tri-Valley's chapter 11 case, comes ahead of an auction for Tri-Valley's assets, scheduled for Wednesday.
ABI's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 has released the names of nearly 130 corporate restructuring experts who have agreed to serve on one of 13 advisory committees to examine discrete current issues. The diverse group of professionals come from the backgrounds of law, finance and the judiciary. The lists of names can be found on the Commission's website. The thirteen advisory committees/study topics are: Administrative Claims, Critical Vendors and Other Pressures on Liquidity; Avoiding Powers; Bankruptcy Remote Entities, Bankruptcy-Proofing and Public Policy; Distributional Issues Under Plans; Executory Contracts and Leases; Financial Contracts, Derivatives and Safe Harbors; Financing Chapter 11; Governance and Supervision of Chapter 11 Cases and Companies; Labor and Benefits Issues; Multiple Enterprise Cases/Issues; Plan Issues: Procedure and Structure; Role of Valuation in Chapter 11 Cases; and Sales of Substantially all of the Debtor’s Assets, Including Going Concern Sales. The Commission is working to break down each study topic further into subtopics—a process intended to help advisory committees identify all potentially relevant issues and coordinate areas of potential overlap among study topics.
The Commission has announced a schedule of fall public hearings at major insolvency conferences, where interested members of the restructuring community can appear and provide testimony to the Commission or to one or more of the advisory committees. The hearings will be held at the NCBJ annual meeting on October 26, the TMA annual convention on November 3 and the Commercial Finance Association annual meeting on November 15. Other public hearing dates will be announced.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law is holding a hearing today at 9:30 a.m. ET to examine H.R. 4369, the "Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2012." The bill, which was introduced on April 17 by Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), looks to amend title 11 of the United States Code to require the public disclosure by trusts established under section 524(g) of such title, of quarterly reports that contain detailed information regarding the receipt and disposition of claims for injuries based on exposure to asbestos, and the filing of such reports with the Executive Office for United States Trustees. Click on the link below for the witness list and other hearing information. http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Hearings%202012/hear_05102012.html
