Videogame company THQ Inc. is requesting bankruptcy court permission to use a $1.5 million trust fund, set up in 2005 as an employment benefit for management-level employees, to instead be used to pay its creditors, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. The money was invested into life insurance policies and other assets and has a cash value of $1.5 million in all, according to court documents.
Hawker Beechcraft Inc. said that it has struck a deal for $600 million in exit financing from lenders led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to take it out of chapter 11 protection, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. In court papers filed on Friday, the aircraft manufacturer asked a bankruptcy judge to let it commit to the financing deal with J.P. Morgan "as soon as possible." Hawker hopes to emerge from chapter 11 protection by the end of March. J.P. Morgan, which beat out three other rival lenders, would underwrite, structure, arrange and syndicate the exit financing: a $375 million senior secured term loan, which would mature in seven years, and a $225 million secured revolving loan, which would mature in five years.
Strong sales and hot new products have made the Chrysler the envy of Detroit, the New York Times reported today. Chrysler, the smallest of the American automakers, kicked off the annual Detroit auto show on Monday with new versions of its Grand Cherokee and Compass S.U.V.’s. The two Jeep models have helped propel the company’s strong sales growth since its government bailout and bankruptcy in 2009. Chrysler outperformed the industry last year with a 20.6 percent increase in domestic sales in a market that grew by 13.4 percent. By comparison, sales increased just 3.7 percent at General Motors and 4.7 percent at Ford.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. asked a court on Friday for more time to file a restructuring plan as part of its exit from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. American wants to submit the plan on April 1, twenty days later than the current March 11 deadline, the company said in a court filing. It would be the fifth extension granted to the company since it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011. The case is AMR Corp., 11-15463, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.
Performing arts groups in more than a dozen states are facing massive deficits, bankruptcies, strikes and layoffs, according to a USA Today report today. The Delaware Symphony Orchestra has cut back performance schedules. The Seattle Opera expects a shortfall of $1 million for the 2011-12 season. Chicago Symphony Orchestra had a strike, and the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra locked out their musicians amid labor disputes. The Oregon Symphony has canceled its return trip to Carnegie Hall in May to save $300,000. The symphony also cut three staff positions and reduced salaries by 4 percent for 22 of its 33 staff members.
The North Carolina manufacturer of Gulistan-branded carpeting has filed for bankruptcy as it struggles to pay off roughly $50 million worth of debt, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Executives for Hampton Capital Partners placed it under chapter 11 protection on Monday as they prepare to sell the 395-worker company's operations, which include its manufacturing plant and corporate headquarters in Aberdeen, N.C., and a dyeing plant in nearby Wagram.
A group of LightSquared Inc.'s lenders reiterated its desire to go after Phil Falcone and Harbinger Capital Partners for a pre-bankruptcy loan made to the wireless satellite company, making it clear that the troubled venture's officers and directors will not be a target of the lawsuit, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. In a bankruptcy court filing on Friday, the lenders said that while they still want a court to let them challenge a July 2011 loan Harbinger made to LightSquared, they do not "at this time" seek any action against LightSquared itself. In a Dec. 12 filing, LightSquared said that it was concerned that its officers and directors would be targets of the suit.
AMR Corp., the bankrupt parent of American Airlines, says that its value has "significantly appreciated" and there may be value for shareholders, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. AMR, which is considering a merger with US Airways Group Inc., notified the Office of the U.S. Trustee of the development in a Jan. 3 letter filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Depending upon the ultimate strategic alternative adopted and pursued, there exists a reasonable possibility that there may be value for AMR equity holders," AMR attorney Harvey Miller wrote.
THQ Inc., the maker of “Saints Row” and “Company of Heroes” video-game franchises, won court approval of a revised, longer bankruptcy sale process and loan to help fund operations after reaching an agreement with creditors, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath at a hearing yesterday approved guidelines that will govern the sale of the company's assets at a bankruptcy auction and the company's $37.5 million bankruptcy loan. The court "approved a process for a sale by Jan. 23" that keeps Clearlake Capital Group LP as the lead or so-called stalking-horse bidder, said Jeffrey C. Krause, a THQ attorney. Potential buyers will have to submit bids by Jan. 22, and the company will hold an auction later that day to determine the best offer for the assets. THQ will seek court approval of the sale at a hearing scheduled for the next day, with closing expected on Jan. 24.
Creditors of A123 Systems Inc. are seeking to hire a lobbying firm in an attempt to stop political forces from derailing a $256.6 million sale deal, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. The company's unsecured creditors' committee wants court permission to bring on Capitol Counsel LLC, whose professionals are "among the most seasoned lobbyists in Washington," according to the committee, as it seeks to ensure a sale that recently won a bankruptcy judge's blessing remains intact. A123, a government-backed battery maker that has yet to turn a profit, received court approval on Dec. 11 to sell most of its assets to China's Wanxiang America Corp. The proposed buyer beat out rival bidder and stalking horse Johnson Controls Inc. at auction, but the fight for the assets did not end there. The sale to Wanxiang remains subject to the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government body led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that reviews deals that could result in the control of a U.S. business by a foreign person or company.