By Joseph Checkler
On Monday at a law office in Wilmington, Del., vitamin maker
Natrol Inc. will auction itself off.
ICV Partners is offering approximately $90 million for Natrol,
but other bidders can top that at the auction.
The California company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in June because of a dispute with lender Cerberus
Business Finance LLC. The buyout firm had criticized the company's
management. Natrol lawyers said they "strongly disputed" the
lender's claims of mismanagement.
Cerberus backed down when Natrol agreed to try to find new
financing to pay off the loan or to put the company up for
sale.
The ICV deal, or a topping offer, would pay Cerberus off in
full. The winner of Monday's auction will come before a Wilmington,
Del., judge two days later and ask for the sale to be approved.
Wednesday in Camden, N.J., Atlantic City-based Revel Casino
Hotel will ask a judge to send its liquidation plan to creditors
for a vote.
The casino, which filed for its second bankruptcy this past
June, plans to pay back creditors after a $110 million sale to
Brookfield Property Partners LP goes through.
The hearing on the disclosure statement, a plain-English version
of a company's reorganization plan on which creditors must vote,
comes a day before a scheduled final hearing on the company's
bankruptcy loan from a group of lenders led by Wells Fargo
Bank.
Before it closed its doors in September, Revel employed about
3,100 people, and its retail, food and beverage partners employ
hundreds more, according to court papers.
Next Friday in Manhattan, LightSquared will update a judge on
the progress made in its reorganization. The company is pursuing a
plan to exit bankruptcy owned by Charlie Ergen, the chairman of
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) and largest secured lender of
LightSquared.
All major creditor constituencies are on board with the plan,
except for Philip Falcone and his Harbinger Capital Partners
hedge-fund firm, which has controlled LightSquared for years but
which is poised to own none of it under the newest proposal.
Judge Shelley C. Chapman said at an early November hearing that
she would let the company know if it can go forward with its most
recent proposal.
Under the plan, Mr. Ergen would get 60% of the restructured
LightSquared's equity plus $1 billion in new junior debt. J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), one of LightSquared's lenders, would
receive a total of 31.9% of the equity and a seat on the board of
directors in exchange for its debt and $189 million in funding.
Other lenders would receive a smaller piece of equity and warrants
to purchase common stock.
To satisfy Harbinger's claims, $189 million is being set aside
in an escrow account, funded by J.P. Morgan, until those claims are
settled. Mr. Falcone is entitled to no other compensation under the
plan and is expected to fight its confirmation.
LightSquared filed for Chapter 11 in May 2012 after the Federal
Communications Commission refused to clear its plans to launch its
wireless network, citing fears that the network would interfere
with global-positioning systems.
-Peg Brickley, Tom Corrigan and Stephanie Gleason contributed to
this article.
Write to Joseph Checkler at joseph.checkler@wsj.com.
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