Dow Jones News
Jun. 14, 2005 12:00 AM
CHICAGO - Creditors at UAL Corp., the parent
company of bankrupt United Airlines, for the
first time have indicated that outside buyers
have expressed interest in taking over the
carrier as it emerges from Chapter 11.
In a court filing Friday, the airline's creditors committee said it didn't object to giving UAL's current management an extension until Sept. 1 for exclusive rights to file a financial reorganization plan for UAL. But the committee said it did not agree with the implication that there were no other qualified parties interested in submitting alternate plans of reorganization.
United, the world's second-largest carrier after AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, said it wasn't aware of any competing plans being put forward.
A news report Monday named Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth and investor groups headed by two former airline chiefs, United's Gerald Greenwald and Continental's Gordon Bethune, as the interested buyers.
TPG invested in Tempe-based America West Airlines to bring it out of bankruptcy in 1994. It has sold off most of its shares but still controls the airline's voting stock. That will no longer be the case if the merger with US Airways goes through.
Separately, America West has agreed to pay an affiliate of TPG $6.4 million for financial consulting and other merger advice, payable upon completion of the merger.
In a court filing Friday, the airline's creditors committee said it didn't object to giving UAL's current management an extension until Sept. 1 for exclusive rights to file a financial reorganization plan for UAL. But the committee said it did not agree with the implication that there were no other qualified parties interested in submitting alternate plans of reorganization.
United, the world's second-largest carrier after AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, said it wasn't aware of any competing plans being put forward.
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A news report Monday named Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth and investor groups headed by two former airline chiefs, United's Gerald Greenwald and Continental's Gordon Bethune, as the interested buyers.
TPG invested in Tempe-based America West Airlines to bring it out of bankruptcy in 1994. It has sold off most of its shares but still controls the airline's voting stock. That will no longer be the case if the merger with US Airways goes through.
Separately, America West has agreed to pay an affiliate of TPG $6.4 million for financial consulting and other merger advice, payable upon completion of the merger.