August 21, 2000

AmeriServe Food Distribution Inc., a bankrupt food-products distributor, has entered into an agreement to sell its assets in the U.S. to McLane Co., a wholly-owned unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Ar., for an undisclosed amount. The deal doesn't clarify leaves unclear how Addison, Tx.-based AmeriServe will pay back its nearly $2 billion in debt, most of it unsecured.  The agreement, which must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, would leave AmeriServe as a shell company without any significant operations.

Beltex Inc., a Belmont, N.C. maker of men's underwear which recently filed Chapter 11, has estimated both its assets and liabilities at between $1 million and $10 million. 

Cumberland Obstetrics & Gynecology PC, Marietta, Ga., has now filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The company listed assets and liabilities of $740,000 and $573,000 respectively.  The case number is 00-69925.

Homeowner Now (U.S.A.) Inc., Atlanta, Ga., has now filed Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The company listed assets and liabilities of $590,000 and $538,000 respectively.  The case number is 00-70187.

Mid South Data Ind. Inc., Birmingham, Al., filed Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama. No schedules were listed in the filing.  The case number is 00-004459.

Precision Auto Care in Leesburg, Va., which has been struggling to keep up its cash flow, will refinance its $7.3 million credit facility and receive additional senior financing of nearly $4 million from First Union National Bank. Precision Auto, which expects to report a fourth quarter loss of $6 million, has shut down certain of its unprofitable operations and reduced its payroll by about 15% since last year. 

Ridgeview Inc., Newton, N.C., filed Chapter 11 listing assets and liabilities of $41.9 million and $39.4 million respectively.

TellThemNow.com, a Seattle, Wa. Web-services firm which has been unable to raise additional capital since it got a $1 million infusion in December, has now reportedly run out of cash and announced plans to lay off nearly all of its employees.  The firm is still looking for investors but is also talking with a number of suitors regarding an acquisition of the firm.

Valucar Inc. of Bradenton, Fl., which does business as Valucar Sales & Service Superstore, filed Chapter 11. No schedules were listed in the filing. 

August 22, 2000

AGE Construction Inc./Advance All Pro Electric Co., Los Angeles, Ca., has now filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles listing liabilities of nearly $7.3 million. No assets were listed in the filing.  The case number is LA00-28643-TD. For further information contact the debtor's attorney, Willard Anthony, at 619-969-3720.

APB Online Inc., which filed Chapter 11 in July owing unsecured creditors $6.4 million, has received an offer from SafetyTips.com of Waltham, Ma., which wants to buy APB's APBnews.com crime-reporting Web operations for $950,000.

Drkoop.com Inc., the Austin, Tx. Web-based health-services venture, told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will be forced to end operations unless it quickly raise some $27 million. The company still has access to $2.6 million in bridge financing, but that amount would fund operations for only about two weeks. Drkoop announced that it is trying to complete a private placement of new stock but that the $5 million it hopes to raise through the placement could give investors enough control to replace the firm's current management.

Glenoit Corp., which formerly did business as Glenoit Mills Inc., has seen a 10/3 creditors' meeting scheduled in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.  In addition, a 10/3 confirmation hearing has been scheduled. For further information contact the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware at 302-573-6174.

Information Packaging Inc. has now filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Tennessee along with its Nicholstone Inc., Data Packaging Corp., Unipac Inc. and Royale/Horowitz/Rae Inc. subsidiaries. The filing follows an involuntary petition which had been filed against the Nicholstone Inc. unit. Total liabilities for the printing and binding firm are about $20 million.

Loehmann's Inc., the bankrupt Bronx, N.Y. apparel retailer, is reportedly completing negotiations for a $65 million exit-financing facility with Deutsche Bank and now expects to receive approval for its plan of reorganization from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware at a hearing scheduled for 9/6.

Paging Network Inc. of Dallas, Tx. reported a second quarter net loss of $72.4 million. Its revenue declined 20%--to $204 million.

August 23, 2000

American Homestar Corp., a Houston, Tx. maker of mobile homes which has reported losses for its last three quarters, announced that Laurence Dawson, its president and chief executive offer, will resign. American Homestar is looking for a replacement who can better help the company continue its reorganization and return to profitability.

Amresco Inc., a Dallas, Tx. financial-services firm which is trying to raise cash, has reached an agreement to sell its homebuilder lending and services business along with part of its assets to Prism Financial, a division of Royal Bank of Canada of Calgary, Alberta, for an undisclosed amount. Amresco, which said that it will continue looking for liquidity solutions, recently received about a one-month extension on repayment of $7.2 million of its debt.

Caleb Technology Corp., Boulder, Co., filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver under case number 00-18976. The company listed assets of less than $10 million and liabilities of less than $50 million.

Crown Vantage Inc., a bankrupt Cincinnati, Oh. maker of printing paper and specialty packaging, will idle its facility in Parchment, Mi. and lay off 249 employees. The plant's production will be shifted to other facilities. Crown Vantage, reorganizing under Chapter 11, recently reached an agreement to sell all of the assets of its Crown Paper Inc. unit for about $375 million.

Drkoop.com Inc., after warning that it might have to cease operations because of a cash crunch, has now received $20 million in financing from an investor group that includes Prime Ventures, JF Shea Ventures, Cramer-Rosenthal-McGlynn Inc. and RMC Capital. Despite the investment, the Austin, Tx. Web-based health-services company faces a shaky future, with one analyst claiming that the prospects for the company to generate sufficient revenue are bleak.

First Class Homes LLC, Colorado Springs, Co., filed Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver listing assets and liabilities of $1.2 million and nearly $1.3 million respectively. The case number is 00-18913.

Lighthouse Foods LLC, Clara City, Mn., has now filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minneapolis listing assets and liabilities of $2.1 million and $1.3 million respectively. The case number is 00-43450.

Newstar Media Inc., Los Angeles, Ca., filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles under case number LA00-28589-VZ. Seven related companies at the same address as Newstar also filed Chapter 11: Newstar Television Inc., Newstar Worldwide Inc., Case Closed Inc., Newstar Worldwide Ctl Inc., Dove Four Point Inc., Dove Entertainment Inc. and Dove Audio Inc.  None of the eight separate filings listed assets or liabilities. For further information contact the debtor's attorney, Marc Cohen, at 310-563-3610.

Ulysses Telemedia Networks, a Minneapolis, Mn. provider of Web services and software, has laid off as many as 100 employees at its software units (about two-thirds of its workforce) over the past two months as it tries to work its way through a shortage of cash.

August 24, 2000

Beeper One Systems Inc., Tampa, Fl., has now filed Chapter 7 listing liabilities of $535,000. No assets were listed in the filing.  

Claridge Hotel and Casino Corp., which has been operating under Chapter 11 since last summer, received an offer from Park Place Entertainment Co. and Black Hawk Gaming and Development Co. to purchase its Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. for an undisclosed amount. Financier Carl Icahn, who owns about 40% of $85 million in mortgage notes on the Claridge Hotel, has also been maneuvering to take over the property.

Cycletech Inc., a Greenport, N.Y. company that recycles waste tires, has now filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albany listing assets and liabilities of $771,000 and nearly $4.3 million respectively. Cycletech, which has had to deal with a number of environmental violations in recent years, intends on continuing its operations as it reorganizes.

Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc., a Newport Beach, Ca.-based chain of seventy theaters and more than 700 screens, filed Chapter 11. The filing follows the company's aggressive building program outside its main market in Southern California. Edwards, along with a number of other movie-theater developers, is plagued by a glut of movie screens in the U.S.

Harvey Entertainment Co., Despite getting a recent $25 million revolving credit facility from Chase Manhattan Bank, Harvey Entertainment Co., a Los Angeles, Ca. producer of animated films, warned that its current and expected future working capital sources will not provide enough liquidity to meet its financial requirements for the next year. The maker of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich and other programs recently reported a second quarter net loss of $6 million on revenue of $5.1 million. Further, Harvey, which as of 6/30 faced liabilities of more than $30 million, has been cited as a possible takeover target of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., a Vancouver, British Columbia film and television producer.

Holt Group Inc., a family-operated shipping concern, has announced plans to sell off certain of its noncore assets in order to raise cash to help restructure its $318 million debtload. Holt last year lost $42 million, largely as a result of hurricane damage and other nonrecurring effects. Its losses from ongoing operations last year totaled $8 million.

Iridium LLC  With no buyers stepping forward to save bankrupt Iridium LLC, the Washington, D.C.-based satellite-communications firm, Motorola Inc. of Schaumburg, Il., which is one of Iridium's main backers, has received permission from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to destroy Iridium's eighty-six satellites.

Nuclear Imaging Systems Inc., Malvern, Pa., has now filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Philadelphia. No schedules were listed in the filing.  The case number is 00-19698.

August 25, 2000

Advanced Water Systems of Central Florida, Lake Mary, Fl., filed Chapter 7. No schedules were listed in the filing. 

APB Online Inc., SafetyTip.com of Waltham, Ma. has withdrawn its offer to buy bankrupt APB Online Inc., a New York-based crime-reporting website.  SafetyTip got cold feet when the trustee in APB's Chapter 11 case wondered whether the $950,000 proposal undervalued the company. Instead, a 9/1 auction on APB's assets has been scheduled in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Contifinancial Corp. A 9/14 deadline has been set for filing proof of claims in the Contifinancial Corp. Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  For further information contact the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York at 212-668-2867.

EthnicGrocer.com Inc., a Chicago, Il. Internet-based grocery retailer, has received a $6 million infusion from Kraft Foods Inc., the Northfield, Il. food-products giant. EthnicGrocer has so far raised $41 million but has been coming under pressure to speed up its path to profitability. The firm recently laid off thirty employees (17% of its workforce).

Hanson Steel Inc., Homewood, Al., has now seen an involuntary bankruptcy petition filed against it in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama. No schedules were listed in the filing.  The case number is 00-04619.

Hitter Inc., Hernando, Fl., has now filed Chapter 11. No schedules were listed in the filing.

Safelite Glass Corp. A 9/12 hearing has been scheduled to consider confirmation of the reorganization plan in the Safelite Glass Corp. Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For further information contact the debtor's attorney, Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher, at 212-728-8000.

Sunterra Corp. A 9/28 hearing has been scheduled to consider a motion to sell certain property in the Sunterra Corp. Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For further information contact the debtor's attorney, Myron Trepper, at 212-728-8000.

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