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Shareholders in bankrupt Accuride pursuing loan

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Shareholders of Accuride Corp., the bankrupt Evansville maker of wheels for trucks and trailers, won a week-long delay of the company’s reorganization schedule to develop an alternative turnaround plan built on a new $400 million loan.

Shareholders are trying to arrange the loan at 11 percent to 12 percent interest to fund the company’s exit from bankruptcy, their financial adviser Robert White told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon at a Monday hearing in Wilmington, Del. Shareholders and the company will appear in court Feb. 17 to battle over which plan is better.

Robert Richards, a lawyer for shareholders, referred to the potential loan as the “Goldman take-out.” Afterward, Richards and White declined to say whether that was a reference to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Accuride and its creditors are fighting shareholders over how much the company will be worth once it exits Chapter 11. A higher value would give shareholders a better recovery. The shareholders said in court papers that Accuride is worth about $823 million, or $260 million more than the company’s estimate.

The two sides filed court papers including details of their competing proposals under seal, meaning the public can’t see them. The name of the bank that may provide an alternative exit loan was sealed, and Shannon asked lawyers and financial advisers not to mention it in court Monday.

Accuride filed for bankruptcy in October to restructure its debt. The company and 20 affiliates listed consolidated assets of $682.3 million and debts of $847 million as of Aug. 31.

Under Accuride’s plan, noteholders owed $291 million would be given 98 percent of new stock to be issued once the company leaves bankruptcy. Shareholders would get 2 percent. Accuride would also raise $140 million to help fund its exit from bankruptcy through a rights offering.

The shareholder proposal that sets a higher value for Accuride would give noteholders 73.5 percent of the new equity while still repaying them in full. Shareholders would get the remainder, according to court papers.

Under both plans, Accuride would owe more than $400 million after it exits bankruptcy, White said in court. The shareholder loan would have a higher interest rate, White said.

The company’s 8.5 percent bonds due in 2015 last traded at almost 92 cents on the dollar on Jan. 29, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

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  1. First, the Athenaeum is going to have to get past the hurdle with the Lockerbie residents and the agreement that the parcel would be residential. Second, and in my opinion, this prime piece of property should include parking, PLUS, a black box theater(s), some market rate and affordable artist housing and a plan to renovate and reconfigure the second story theater. I would negotiate to add the DeHaan property surface parking lot into the development mix, place a one story surface parking garage on the DeHaan lot on the street level (for the Dehaan tenants use during the daytime) and add a second story to the garage that would become an addition to the current second story theater and then change the direction of the theater by moving the stage across the alley and on top of the DeHaan lot parking. You can add all the stage elements that are currently missing from the Athenaeum stage to make it more attractive for use by Ballet, Opera and traveling productions. Plus, the theater changes would probably help solve some of the soundproofing issues. Alas,it does not seem to be a part of the strategic plan to conduct a study to determine best use of the property. Seems like the current plan is a quick and easy move that ignores the property best use/potential and any strategic property planning for the effect on future generations.

  2. I recall that MSA's pilings are still in the ground and hard to remove. It’s not likely any proposal will include significant underground construction/parking because of this. Start adding 2 floors of retail, 8 floors of parking and 5-10 floors of possible hotel, and/or 10-20 floors of residential, and you are at 30 floors already with possible expansion of all the uses. But then again I could be wrong.

  3. Accoriding to their website there is no deadline to the Do Not Call list. What is this article referring to??

  4. On what planet are they entitled to this largesse from the stockholders? These people make multi-million dollar salaries: Pay for your own personal travel.

  5. It matters because they're already paid enormously fat salaries: Pay for your own personal travel. Being "taxed on it" isn't a valid excuse--so what? They're still being gifted a raft of luxury perks from somebody else's money on top of an enormous, lavish salary.

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