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) PALCO files reorganization plan
The long-anticipated strategy for how Pacific Lumber Co. and its subsidiaries hope to emerge on firm financial footing following their Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in January has been submitted in a federal court in Texas.The several-hundred-page plan, which must be approved in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, aims to provide for the continued operations of PALCO and Scotia Pacific Co. as a single consolidated company.The plan calls for the full repayment of all creditors, which includes $713.8 million owed to timber noteholders and $36.2 million for SCOPAC's line of credit.A key feature identified in the plan is the consolidation of PALCO, SCOPAC and its subsidiaries under a new business model that will continue sawmill and forest operations, but at harvest levels significantly lower than current or historical rates.To pay off its creditors, PALCO is seeking to generate $400 million through the sale of approximately 6,600 acres of SCOPAC's timberlands, which have stringent logging restrictions placed on them to protect the marbled murrelet seabirds that nest there.The first part of the project, which the company hopes to accomplish within 24 months of the plan's approval, will be to sell each of the old-growth forests it calls "Ancient Redwood Groves" as preserves at a value of $60,000 per acre to buyers who are willing to commit to permanent environmental protection.The second phase aims to raise an additional $780 million through the sale of 22,000 acres of lands the plan identifies as "Redwoods Ranch Development," or individual 160-acre parcels to be marketed as "trophy" properties valued at approximately $5 million on average.That would leave approximately 181,000 acres of timberlands for sustained timber harvesting, under the proposed plan.For its part in aiding its cash-strapped subsidiaries, parent company MAXXAM is pledging to make contributions valued at more than $150 million, including providing real estate expertise, to provide $25 million to allow existing noteholders to cash out a portion of their notes, the forgiveness of $40 million in intercompany debt, and tax benefits valued at approximately $85 million.In a statement released on Business Wire, PALCO President and CEO George O'Brien recognized MAXXAM's leadership in standing alongside the company and its significant economic contributions, which he said underscores the confidence MAXXAM has in the company's future."This plan saves a 140-year-old company and creates a viable forest products enterprise that can provide excellent long-term jobs and it does so by putting some of the company's most unique and valuable property to a higher and better use than commercial forestry," O'Brien stated in the news release.While consultants for SCOPAC's creditors have testified in court recently that the companies' equity doesn't exceed their debt and should be liquidated immediately to maximize its value, the submitted plan indicates PALCO's consultants put a value of the lands and businesses in excess of $1.4 billion.Reached by phone Monday, Mark Lovelace, president of the environmental group Humboldt Watershed Council, which has long been critical of PALCO for its alleged environmental violations and unsustainable timber harvesting, called the plan "laughable."Lovelace said he doesn't believe the company will generate the cash it anticipates because no potential buyers will be willing to pay the $60,000-per-acre price for the lands that are already off-limits to logging for the next 42 years under the arrangement of the Headwaters Agreement.He said the only reason anyone might purchase the lands now is because they could be considered undervalued and a steal for someone looking for a bargain."But for PALCO to ask what they are for them now is ridiculous," Lovelace said.In addition, Lovelace said MAXXAM isn't contributing any real financial support as part of the plan, rather it is only shuffling money around.A hearing is scheduled in Corpus Christi this morning at 9 a.m. More>> - (
) Debtbang.com now Offers Do-it-yourself Debt Consolidation
Debtbang.com, a new counseling web site about debt consolidation, provides an honest alternative to commercial debt consolidation firms.Seattle, WA (PRWEB) September 15, 2007 -- Debtbang.com, a new counseling web site about debt consolidation, provides an honest alternative to commercial debt consolidation firms.
"If you're considering steps towards debt consolidation, the real truth is that you're better off handling it yourself, instead of paying an arm and a leg to another company to do it for you," says Kevin Dunham of Debtbang.com. "Debtbang.com offers you the knowledge and advice you need, so that you can get out of debt by yourself."
Debtbang.com (available online at http://www.debtbang.com) is the most practical and affordable debt settlement solution, tailored to give ordinary people debt advice that they can understand and follow. More>>
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) Symbion enters into new deal
HEALTHSCOPE agreed to buy Symbion Health's 270 medical and diagnostic centres in Australia for as much as $2.6 billion in shares and assumed debt yesterday, after an earlier bid for the entire company was blocked by rival Primary Healthcare.The news came as Symbion revealed it had also received a letter from Primary expressing interest in buying the company's medical centres business and part of its pathology and radiology operations.
Under the revised proposal, Healthscope will acquire the pathology, diagnostic imaging and medical centres businesses of Symbion.
Private equity firms Ironbridge Capital and Archer Capital will acquire Symbion's pharmacy services and consumer operations via a scheme of arrangement.
Healthscope estimates that the offer -- to be made via the issue of Healthscope shares and the assumption of debt -- values the business at $2.52 billion to $2.64 billion. More>>
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) Feeling sleepy may lie in your genes
Washington, Oct 18 : Ever wonder why you just love to sleep? Well, researchers say that the answer may lie in your genes.The researchers made the suggestion after finding that the genes responsible for the 24 hour body clock influence not only the timing of sleep, but also appear to be central to the actual restorative process of sleep."We still do not know why we benefit from sleep, or why we feel tired when we are 'lacking' sleep, but it seems likely that sleep serves some basic biological function for the brain such as energy restoration for brain cells or memory consolidation," said Dr Bruce O'Hara of the University of Kentucky, one of the neuroscientists on the study."We have found that clock gene expression in the brain is highly correlated to the build-up of sleep debt, while previous findings have linked these genes to energy metabolism. More>>
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) Japan Bonds Dip Briefly, Stocks Rise On Moody's Upgrade
TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Moody's Investors Service on Thursday upgraded Japanese government bonds to A1 from A2 -- sending JGB futures falling, paradoxically enough, and Tokyo stocks rising.The move had been expected after Moody's noted in July that it was considering an upgrade. Bond futures, which might have been expected to rise on the news, fell instead, but one analyst said that was due to short-selling as market players wondered why a Bank of Japan policy board meeting on interest rates was running overtime.
The upgrade was "kind of like an expected thing," said Freddy Lim, a JGB strategist at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. "Japan has been doing quite well the past few years. It has taken them a long time to finally upgrade JGBs."
But the move could open the door for some foreign funds that can only invest in assets of a certain rating to move money into JGBs. More>>
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) Beyond the Washington Consensus
Development circles were not shocked last year when two studies detailed how the World Bank's research unit had been systematically manipulating data to show that neo-liberal market reforms were promoting growth and reducing poverty in developing countries. They merely saw these devastating findings, one by American University Professor Robin Broad, the other by Princeton University Professor Angus Deaton and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Ken Rogoff, as
but the latest episode in the collapse of the so-called Washington Consensus. [1]
Partisans of this development model during its heyday, the 1980s and early 1990s, borrowed Margaret Thatcher's famous remark to claim that the alternative to the Washington Consensus was TINA - that is, "There is no alternative." The Washington Consensus rejected economic strategies involving heavy participation by government and positioned the unfettered market as the driver of development. More>>