Tribune: Most objections resolved, clearing way for disclosure hearing

By Jim Witters

Wilmington, Del., March 22 - The Tribune Co. has resolved "virtually every objection" to the disclosure statement associated with its third amended plan of reorganization and is prepared for an uncontested hearing on the statement on March 30, according to statements in court on Thursday.

During a status conference, Tribune attorney Kevin Lantry said the resolution of disclosure statement issues also bodes well for the plan confirmation hearing, scheduled for May 16-17.

The disclosure statement hearing had previously been scheduled for March 23, but judge Kevin J. Carey postponed it a week to give himself more time to decide several allocation disputes.

Originally, Carey had said he may not render opinions on all the disputes before plan confirmation, but at the status conference he said that he now believes he must decide all of them "in advance of or in conjunction with confirmation."

Even with the shorter timeframe, the debtors should be able to incorporate Carey's rulings into the disclosure statement and plan of reorganization within the schedule for the April 30 voting deadline, Lantry said.

As previously reported, Tribune filed a third amended plan of reorganization and disclosure statement on March 19 that addresses issues raised by the court in connection with the denial of its previous plan.

The current proposed plan also eliminates the creditors' trust, allowing holders of senior loan claims, bridge loan claims, senior noteholder claims, other parent claims, EGI-TRB LLC notes claims and Phones notes claims to retain any disclaimed state law avoidance claims that they may have, instead of having them transferred to the trust.

If the plan is confirmed, the company expects to distribute more than $7 billion to creditors.

Tribune, a Chicago-based media company, filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 8, 2008. Its Chapter 11 case number is 08-13141.

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