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Sam Zell, who took Tribune Co. private in a 2007 leveraged buyout, says he wants his claims in the media company’s bankruptcy to be paid before those of any lower-priority creditors. Zell put $315 million of his own money into the $8 billion deal. The company filed for Chapter 11 last year.
Demands by the lower-priority creditors have gotten louder since a bankruptcy examiner’s report last week raised questions about the LBO.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has assumed control of seven pension plans covering workers and retirees of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, a move which is expected to cost the pension guarantor some $49 million. Get the full story »
General Motors posted its second straight profitable quarter Thursday, putting it in position to move ahead with the sale of shares to the public that is needed to repay taxpayer assistance it received last year.
The No. 1 automaker in terms of U.S. sales reported earnings of $1.3 billion in the quarter after the payment of dividends on preferred shares held by the U.S. Treasury. That was a stark turnaround from the $12.9 billion it lost in the year-earlier period when the company went into bankruptcy. Get the full story »
Water Tower Place in Chicago, one of General Growth's malls. General Growth filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in April 2009. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
The former shareholders of Hughes Corp. Wednesday filed an objection to General Growth Properties Inc’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, saying it does not explain how they would be paid.
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors also filed an objection to the proposed disclosure statement, which details the plan.
Under the plan, the group known as the Hughes heirs can be repaid in stock of reorganized mall owner General Growth, or in cash, the Hughes heirs said in court documents filed in U.S Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Get the full story »
A U.S. District Judge in Chicago ruled Monday that Sam Zell can’t be made to pay for the company’s retirement fund losses because Tribune isn’t directly involved in the lawsuit. Zell was sued by workers who claimed that the billionaire caused the company’s employee stock ownership plan to lose value.
General Growth Properties Inc., the No. 2 U.S. mall owner, said Monday that second-quarter funds from operations rose, citing greater leasing activity and higher sales at its malls. Get the full story »
The independent examiner appointed to review claims and assets in Washington Mutual’s bankruptcy case is seeking subpoena power.
The examiner made the request Friday in filing his proposed work plan in Delaware bankruptcy court. A hearing on his plan will be held Tuesday. Get the full story »
Tribune Co.’s attempts to exit bankruptcy court will be delayed at least until October, but could extend even beyond that as the company and its creditors dive into a new round of negotiations aimed at finally settling the 20-month-old Chapter 11 case.
The delay is an acknowledgment that an examiner’s report about the propriety of the company’s 2007 leveraged buyout has upset a previous settlement in the case and forced the company to redouble efforts to win the approval from a range of dissident creditors. Get the full story »
An investment bank declined to give Tribune Co. a clean bill of financial health in 2007 that would have cleared the way for Sam Zell’s $8.2 billion leveraged buyout of the media conglomerate, people familiar with the matter said.
Houlihan Lokey, a Los Angeles-based bank, rejected overtures from Tribune around March 2007 to provide what is known as a “solvency opinion” that would label Zell’s takeover financially sound, these people said. Houlihan believed the deal would saddle the newspaper-and-television company with too much debt, they said. Get the full story »
General Growth Properties Inc. said it amended its reorganization plan to increase its capital structure flexibility and improve investment terms, and remains on track to emerge from bankruptcy in October. Get the full story »
A group led by former all-star pitcher Nolan Ryan and a minor league baseball team owner made a new bid to buy the bankrupt Texas Rangers in a move that would block an auction for the Major League Baseball team set for next week.
The Rangers’ bankruptcy court-appointed chief restructuring officer, William Snyder, said at a hearing on Friday that he supports the new offer, according to a person who attended the hearing by telephone. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. proposed paying its top 43 executives a severance package of cash and benefits if they are asked by a new board to leave the company after the Chicago-based media conglomerate emerges from bankruptcy.
The company didn’t put a price tag on the package, but said it amounts to 2.5 times salary and bonus for Chief Executive Randy Michaels, and 2.25 times salary and bonus for Chief Operating Officer Gerry Spector. Both would be entitled to 24 months of the company’s group health benefits.
Nine other top executives, including Tony Hunter, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and Eddy Hartenstein, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, would get 1.75 times salary and bonus plus 24 months of benefits. A list of 32 others would get 1.5 times salary and 18 months of benefits.
Tribune Co. filed the plan late Thursday as part of a supplement to its plan of reorganization.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey signed an order providing certain key parties access to the full examiner’s report in the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case so they can evaluate its momentous conclusions before an Aug. 6 voting deadline.
He also indicated he might move the deadline out by a few days, but said he was determined not to disrupt the schedule for confirmation hearings on the Tribune Co. plan which are slated to begin Aug. 30.
Carey stopped short of ordering full public disclosure of the report. But he indicated he would prefer to make it public if parties in the case can resolve a series of confidentiality disputes raised by several big lenders to Tribune Co.’s ill-fated 2007 leveraged buyout, which was led by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell. Get the full story »
