Buckling under roughly $13 billion in debt, broadcast and print media giant Tribune sought protection from creditors with the filing of a Chapter 11 petition in a Delaware bankruptcy court on Monday. Based in Chicago, the Tribune Company owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and ten other newspaper properties scattered across the nation’s largest media markets. The company also owns 23 broadcast television stations, cable TV super station WGN, major league baseball’s Chicago Cubs, and Wrigley Field.
Fulfilling the terms of an agreement reached with bondholders in February, Charter Communications submitted a petition for Chapter 11 protection last Friday to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The bankruptcy petition would restructure a portion of the debt owed by St. Louis-based Charter, the nation’s fourth largest cable operator with more than 5.5 million subscribers. At the end of last year, Charter listed total debt obligations of $21.7 billion with annual interest costs approaching $2 billion.
On April 8, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Bankruptcy Court and concluded that special ERISA “termination premiums” due PBGC are not contingent prepetition claims subject to discharge in a chapter 11 reorganization. Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v. Oneida, Ltd., 2009 WL 929528 (2d Cir. April 8, 2009), rev’g Oneida Ltd. v. Pension Benefit Guar. Corp., 383 B.R. 29 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y., 2008).
On August 30, 2008, the United States District Court for the District of Northern Texas issued its ruling on whether Americas Mining Corporation (“AMC”) (and its parent Grupo Mexico) had caused ASARCO LLC (“ASARCO”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, to fraudulently transfer stock of Southern Peru Copper Company (“SPCC”) from ASARCO to AMC. The Court determined that AMC was liable for (1) intentional fraudulent transfer, (2) aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty under New Jersey law; and (3) civil conspiracy under Arizona law. See ASARCO LLC v.
Citing a slowdown in its business caused, in part, by the recent global credit crunch, Sea Launch has filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Based in Long Beach, California, Sea Launch is owned by Boeing (40%) and by foreign partners that include RSC-Energia of Russia, Kvaener ASA of Norway, and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of the Ukraine. In addition to operating its seagoing launch platform in the equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean, the company has started offering landbased launches from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.
Governors of three New England states have vowed to monitor Chapter 11 proceedings launched on Monday by Fairpoint Communications, which paid $2.3 billion last year to acquire New England fixed line telephone infrastructure owned previously by Verizon Communications.
Charter Communications stepped closer to emerging from Chapter 11 protection as a New York bankruptcy judge approved the company’s pre-arranged plan of reorganization on Tuesday. Based in St. Louis, Charter ranks as the nation’s fourth largest cable system operator with 4.9 million subscribers across 27 states. Straining under a debt load of $21.7 billion, Charter filed for bankruptcy protection in March after bondholders in possession of $8 billion of the company’s debt agreed to exchange their debt for equity in the reorganized entity. The plan endorsed by U.S.
Hedge funds and other investors in debt or equity securities often form unofficial “ad hoc” committees through which they actively participate in chapter 11 cases. Recent decisions affirm that such ad hoc committees must comply with the disclosure requirements of Bankruptcy Rule 2019 – including the nature and amounts of claims or interests held by members and other details. What about a “group” that says it’s a lot less than an ad hoc committee and therefore, outside the Rule?
On Sunday, Citadel Broadcasting, the nation’s third largest radio station operator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reaching a pre-negotiated restructuring agreement with creditors that hold 60% of the company’s secured debt. Citadel owns and operates 224 AM and FM radio stations that include KABC-AM in Los Angeles, WLS-AM in Chicago, and WPLJ-FM in New York City. New York’s WABC-AM, which is owned by Citadel, is the home of ABC Radio News and also hosts several syndicated radio personalities, including Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh. In documents filed with the U.S.
Elaborating on its Resorts decision of ten years ago concerning payments to shareholders in a public leveraged buyout,1 the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently ruled in In re Plassein Int’l, Corp.2 that the “settlement payment” exemption of section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code also insulates selling shareholders in a private LBO from fraudulent transfer liability.