DELPHI: Company revising plan to emerge from bankruptcy

Business

August 29, 2008

Anonymous The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Fri Aug 29, 2008, 10:00 PM EDT

By VINNEE TONG

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Auto parts supplier Delphi, which has been operating under bankruptcy protection for nearly three years, is working on a revision to its reorganization plan and is not talking about liquidating the company, a spokesman said Friday.

“We are working on revisions to the plan of reorganization that would let the company successfully emerge,” Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams said.

He said the Troy, Mich.-based company is in discussions with GM, its creditors and other stakeholders to revise the plan, but he would not say whether it includes the participation of equity investors.

Delphi Corp.’s previous plan included a group of equity investors that had planned to inject as much as $2.55 billion into the reorganized company. The group, led by hedge fund Appaloosa Management LP, backed out of the deal in April. That led Delphi to pursue a contentious fraud lawsuit against the group.

One of Delphi’s looming problems is a Sept. 30 deadline to transfer $1.5 billion in pension obligations to its former parent, General Motors Corp.

GM had expected to take on the obligation when Delphi left court protection under the reorganization plan that included the investors. That was on track to happen before the deadline until Appaloosa balked.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the government agency that insures pension plans, warned Delphi in an Aug. 14 letter that if it did not complete the transfer in time and the pension plans fail, the PBGC would have a claim for as much as $8 billion dollars, diluting the interests of Delphi’s creditors.

“Our point all along has been that everyone realizes that liquidation doesn’t serve the workers or the creditors of Delphi. And in liquidation, the PBGC’s claim would swamp most other creditors,” PBGC Director Charles Millard said Friday in a statement to The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that Delphi and its pension plans remain intact. The best way to avoid liquidation is for GM to take Delphi’s pension liabilities, and that’s why we have been advocating so forcefully for that result.”

Delphi’s and GM’s intertwined interests have complicated the parts supplier’s bankruptcy case, which it first filed in October 2005. Its emergence from Chapter 11 has been repeatedly delayed as the company negotiated with unions on worker buyouts, reached the deal with Appaloosa, then ran into trouble securing $6.1 billion in loans it needed to emerge from court protection under that plan.

When Delphi struggled to secure the loans in a tight credit market, GM offered to increase the amount it would lend. That drew opposition from Appaloosa, which felt such a deal would diminish its power over the reorganized company.

A revised plan could mean the sale of core assets.

Text Only

Business

Vendors sought for Canal Street market
Vendor applications are now available for the 2012 Lockport Community Market, an open-air market to be open Saturdays in July and August on Canal Street.

The goal of the market is to provide a venue for area businesses, farmers, merchants and artisans to showcase their wares, and show the depth and variety of Lockport's business community, according to organizer Heather Peck, program manager of Lockport Main Street Inc.

May 17, 2012
A matter of survival?
That mammoth electric generating station on Lake Road? It ain’t the cash cow it used to be.

The coal-fired power plant formerly known as AES Somerset faces liquidation if a proposed deal to recharge it, through investment, tax relief and payroll slashing, doesn’t pass muster with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

April 19, 2012 1 Photo
Wishes granted
Nine established downtown-area businesses and six new businesses earned funds totalling $180,000 from the State Office of Community Renewal on Monday.

Mayor Michael Tucker, Sen. George Maziarz and Charles Bell of the Greater Lockport Development Corporation made the announcement in front of Micrographics at 36-B Main St. as several of the grant winners gathered and smiled in the breeze.

April 10, 2012 2 Photos
Rescuing the ruins
Greater Lockport Development Corporation will work with a local business that’s aiming to preserve historic industrial ruins downtown.

The GLDC board of directors this week approved a memorandum of agreement with Hydraulic Race Corporation, owner of the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride tour, stating the agency will act as a “pass through” entity in the event HRC lands state grants to stabilize the Holly and Richmond Manufacturing ruins.

April 9, 2012 1 Photo
First Niagara gets into auto lending
First Niagara’s latest expansion is now into the indirect auto lending business.

The company announced Wednesday it will provide a variety of vehicle financing options through dealerships scattered throughout the northeast. More than 400 have already signed on and First Niagara expects that number to grow to 1,500 by 2014.

March 29, 2012
Claytown pieces available at Clarence pottery shop
Former Clay Town customers who left behind finished pottery pieces can still retrieve the pieces from a Clarence-based pottery shop.
Marie Sperrazza, owner of Clay Hands Pottery, 10086 Main St., Clarence, is holding upwards of 100 finished pieces by Clay Town customers who never retrieved them after the Robinson Road, Lockport, paint-your-own-pottery studio closed.

March 20, 2012
Unpaid billions
A growing chorus of bricks-and-mortar small businesses are protesting what they see as tax law inequities driving them to the brink by requiring they collect and remit sales taxes while their electronic counterparts prosper through tax-free goods and services.

October 24, 2011 4 Photos 2 Stories 1 Video 1 Link
Hoagie Brothers is back at Taste
Hoagie Brothers has some faithful followers. And the restaurant is hoping to see some of those followers on Sunday.
Duane and Sharon Behm of Lockport say they stop by the South Transit Road submarine and pizza shop frequently. They conservatively estimate about 10 trips a week to Hoagie Bros., not including the times they stop by with visitors. The Behms like to tell as many as possible to come by for a bite.
“We tell people all the time,” Duane said. “It’s excellent, the best subs.”

August 19, 2011
Good Karma
There’s a lot of good stuff at Cafe Karma, a new specialty sandwich and coffee shop now open on Main Street.
Located at 21 Main St. in the Lockview Plaza, the shop was formerly The Daily Grind, a coffee shop that had been there since it opened in 2006. Co-owners John Verbocy and Dennis Farley opened Cafe Karma about three weeks ago. So far the response has been good.
“It has been amazing,” Farley, a Newfane native, said.

March 4, 2011 1 Photo
Duffy headlining annual Chamber of Commerce gala
New York State Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will be the keynote speaker at the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce’s annual Honors dinner next week.

February 18, 2011
More Business Headlines

Business

Search Results

DELPHI: Company revising plan to emerge from bankruptcy

Site Map

Contact Us