Oct. 12, 2010 at 11:05 a.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media,
TV
By Michael Oneal
Tribune Co. and several of its most important creditor groups announced a broad new settlement Tuesday that brings the company closer to resolving its nearly two-year-old bankruptcy case.
The new pact includes a group of senior lenders who had been holding out on a compromise, the company said, as well as the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the case, which represents junior creditors.
Still absent from the settlement, however, are several key junior creditor groups including major bondholder Aurelius Capital Management, a litigious New York hedge fund known for disrupting large bankruptcy cases. Sources close to Aurelius have said the fund plans to file its own plan by the court imposed Oct. 15 deadline. Get the full story »
Sep. 14, 2010 at 12:47 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media,
Newspapers,
Radio,
TV
By Michael Oneal
A large junior creditor in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case asked the judge to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee to administer potential legal claims surrounding the company’s ill-fated 2007 leveraged buyout.
Contending that the debtor, its management and lawyers for the committee of unsecured creditors face too many conflicts of interest, Aurelius Capital Management said appointing an independent third party would be the only way to make sure potential claims get a fair hearing. Get the full story »
Sep. 13, 2010 at 5:31 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media,
Newspapers,
Radio,
TV,
Updated
By Michael Oneal
The unsecured creditor’s committee in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case asked a Delaware judge Monday for the right to sue Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell, company officials and others who participated in the company’s ill-fated 2007 leveraged buyout. Get the full story »
Aug. 31, 2010 at 10:37 a.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media,
Radio,
TV
By Michael Oneal
The board of directors of bankrupt Tribune Co. formed a special committee to oversee the media company’s contentious reorganization process and to manage any legal claims arising from its 2007 leveraged buyout.
Sources said the step is an effort to remove conflicts of interest from the debtor’s decision making process since some Tribune Co. board members and officers may be the target of buyout-related claims. Get the full story »
By Tribune newspapers
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner on July 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Michael Oneal and Sallie Hofmeister
Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner is in discussions that could lead to his return to the media spotlight — as chairman of the now-bankrupt Tribune Co.
The Chicago-based media company’s largest creditors are having preliminary conversations with prospective candidates who could operate Tribune Co. once it emerges from bankruptcy, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.
Eisner, who has been dabbling in the digital world as an investor since stepping down from Disney in 2005, is among the candidates under consideration to replace Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell as chairman of the reorganized company. Get the full story »
Aug. 20, 2010 at 2:34 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Litigation,
Media
By Michael Oneal
The settlement at the heart of Tribune Co.’s proposed reorganization plan has fallen apart, casting doubt on whether the Chicago-based media conglomerate can continue to control its own fate in bankruptcy court.
At a status hearing in Delaware Friday, Tribune Co. lead attorney James Conlan of Sidley Austin said the company planned to file unilateral amendments to its plan by next Friday and threatened to cast the case into extended litigation if the warring parties can’t come to an agreement.
“The debtor has tried mightily to bring the parties together,” Conlan said. “That hasn’t happened.” Get the full story »
Aug. 17, 2010 at 5:24 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media
By Michael Oneal
The judge in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case suspended a Friday voting deadline on the company’s proposed reorganization plan, responding to a request for more time from Tribune Co. lawyers.
Citing “vigorous negotiations” toward a new settlement in the case, Tribune last Friday asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey for more time to work toward a more consensual agreement. Get the full story »
Aug. 16, 2010 at 3:30 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media,
Newspapers
By Michael Oneal
Tribune Co., citing “vigorous negotiations” toward a new settlement with its creditors, asked the judge in its bankruptcy case for more time to work out a reorganization plan that “would maximize consensus” around a deal.
The move comes as the various bickering parties in the case realign their positions based on the findings contained in an independent examiner’s report studying claims surrounding the Chicago media conglomerate’s 2007 leveraged buyout.
That report, issued late last month, suggested that the $8.2 billion LBO orchestrated by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell may have rendered the company insolvent from Day 1, lending support to various creditors’ arguments. Get the full story »
Crain's Chicago Business
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.
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.
Aug. 3, 2010 at 1:02 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
M&A,
Media,
Private equity
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
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 »
June 23, 2010 at 11:41 a.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media
By Michael Oneal
The independent examiner charged with investigating claims of “fraudulent conveyance” in the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case asked Wednesday for a 15-day extension for filing his report.
That would likely delay a set of confirmation hearings in the case scheduled for Aug. 16 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
“The examiner’s request…is not unexpected,” Tribune Co. said in a statement. “Although it may delay our confirmation hearing for a short period of time, we are supportive of the request in the interest of enabling the examiner to do a thorough and complete review.”
Get the full story »
June 18, 2010 at 12:54 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Media
From Bloomberg News | Lenders owed $1.6 billion will question Sam Zell under oath June 28 on the 2007 leveraged buyout he led of Tribune Co. The lenders, with a lower payment priority, oppose the reorganization plan filed with Bankruptcy Court.
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel | Madison-based Cellular Dynamics, the company created by stem cell pioneer James Thompson, confirmed on Tuesday it has raised $40.6 million of private equity funding. The round was led by Tactics II Stem Cell Ventures, with Sam Zell’s Equity Group Investments LLC and Sixth Floor Investors LP participating in the round. This brings the total amount of money raised by the company to $70 million.
Get the full story: jsonline.com.
