Auto-parts supplier Checker Motors Corp., which used to make the iconic Checker taxi cab, filed for bankruptcy protection, citing high labor and raw material costs, as well as weak sales due to a decline in its customers’ market share, Reuters reported yesterday. The Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company filed for chapter 11 protection in a U.S. bankruptcy court in Michigan on Friday, and said that it expects to restructure itself to respond to changes in the auto industry. Checker, established by Morris Markin in 1922 through a merger of Commonwealth Motors and Markin Automobile Body, had assets worth about $24.5 million and liabilities of about $21.8 million as of Nov. 30, 2008, the court papers showed.
Two more landlords have filed an objection to Circuit City Stores Inc.’s debtor-in-possession financing plan, seeking to halt the company’s ability to cancel any nonresidential leases that were part of the DIP financing, Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday. Monday’s filing, by Eatontown Commons Shopping Center of New Jersey and South Barrington Shopping Center of Illinois, follows a slew of filings by landlords seeking to stop the approval of Circuit City’s $1.1 billion DIP financing plan. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens gave preliminary approval for the DIP financing on Nov. 10. The Eatontown and South Barrington shopping centers are objecting to provisions in the credit agreement that provide for an extension of time to assume or reject nonresidential leases, according to the motion. A final hearing on the DIP financing plan is scheduled for Friday.
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Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi approved American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.’s extension request until March 3 to file a chapter 11 plan detailing how it plans to pay creditors, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Melville, N.Y.-based American Home filed for chapter 11 protection in August, after being overwhelmed with margin calls triggered by the melting mortgage market. The company asked Judge Sontchi to delay the chapter 11 plan filing deadline so that it could finish its liquidation and start negotiations with creditors. Most of American Home’s servicing business, a portfolio of about $40 billion worth of home loans, is being sold to W.L. Ross & Co. in a deal worth from $450 million to $500 million.
Bankrupt baked goods company Interstate Bakeries Corp. will have four more months to file a reorganization plan, after a bankruptcy court judge approved the Twinkie maker’s motion to extend the deadline, Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri granted Interstate’s request last Thursday, giving the company until Oct. 5 to submit a plan for emerging from chapter 11 protection. Most recently, Interstate has had to face off with its creditors and shareholders, who have pushed for new leadership at the embattled baker. The company got permission in February to name a new chief executive, two months after the board of directors’ opponents insisted that a change in leadership would allow the embattled bakery giant to finally exit bankruptcy protection.
