http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN1946005720090519
NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - ION Media Networks Inc (IION.PK), the owner and operator of the ION Television broadcast network, said on Tuesday it had reached an accord with a majority of its senior debt holders to convert debt to equity in a pre-negotiated financial restructuring, hours after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ION Media, which said on its web site it owns stations in each of the 20 largest television markets in the United States, listed assets of less than $50,000, but liabilities of more than $1 billion and more than 100,000 creditors in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The financial restructuring, reached with holders of about 60 percent of its first lien senior secured debt, would extinguish $2.7 billion in debt and preferred stock, and pump $150 million in new funding into the company, the company said in a statement. ION Media said it expects its voluntary bankruptcy filing to accelerate the restructuring. "We look forward to working with all senior debt holders and other stakeholders to facilitate a complete and expeditious restructuring," ION's Chairman and Chief Executive Brandon Burgess said in a statement. ION Media hired Kirkland & Ellis to serve as legal counsel for the restructuring. The case is in Re: ION Media Holdings Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, No. 09-13168. (Reporting by Phil Wahba, editing by Leslie Gevirtz) *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
