On January 22nd, Affiliated Media, Inc. (the "Debtor" or "Affiliated"), filed a chapter 11 petition for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. According to documents filed with the Bankruptcy Court, the Debtor's operations include daily and weekly newspapers, "niche publications," internet websites, four radio stations and a television station in Alaska. Affiliated's bankruptcy follows a drop in revenue from $1.3 billion in 2007 to $1.06 billion in 2009.
The Ninth Circuit has joined the majority of Circuit Courts in holding that bankruptcy courts have the authority to recharacterize alleged debts as equity. See Official Comm. of Unsecured Creds. v. Hancock Park Capital II, L.P. (In re Fitness Holdings Int’l, Inc.), No. 11-56677, --- F.3d ----, 2013 WL 1800000 (9th Cir. April 30, 2013). In doing so, the appellate court has explicitly reversed the contrary precedent of In re Pacific Express, Inc., 69 B.R. 112, 115 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 1986).
CIT Group Inc.
The Upstream C Reorganization
In the late 20th century, the IRS made a combination of unrelated decisions resulting in a proliferation of upstream C reorganizations. First was the repeal of the Bausch & Lomb rule, meaning that the equity held by a parent corporation in its subsidiary could count as continuity of interest, thus allowing the liquidation of a subsidiary to be treated as an upstream C reorganization. Second, the invention of the check-the-box regulations made subsidiary liquidations (and hence upstream reorganizations) so much easier.
In the past two days, AIG has announced the sale of its Hong Kong Financial branch and the sale of additional energy and infrastructure investment assets.
Recent court decisions in the state of Michigan—Wells Fargo Bank, NA v. Cherryland Mall, ____ N.W.2d _____, 2011 WL 6785393 (Mich.App. 2011) (Cherryland) in the Michigan intermediate appellate court and 51382 Gratiot Avenue Holdings Inc. v. Chesterfield Development Company, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142404 (E.D. Mi. Dec.
Today, the FDIC announced the next steps in further developing the government's Legacy Loan Program (LLP), by testing the LLP program's funding mechanism through the sale of a portfolio of residential mortgage loan receivership assets to a limited liability company (LLC) in exchange for an ownership interest in the LLC.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has now weighed in on the Bankruptcy Code’s safe harbor provisions. In Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. v. Alfa, S.A.B. de C.V., Docket Nos. 09–5122, 09–5142, 2011 WL 2536101 (2d Cir. June 28, 2011), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals faced an issue of first impression—whether Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, which shields certain payments from avoidance actions in bankruptcy, extends to an issuer’s payment to redeem its commercial paper made before maturity.
You will rely on section 355 for nonrecognition, but here you also must rely on section 332 to make the liquidations tax free, without any liquidation-reincorporation problem. It's very clear that you can get the results you want, but not clear why.
LTR 201123022 describes these facts, in simplified form: