Word: campeau
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...been reeling from interest charges on $3.7 billion that it borrowed in 1986 for an LBO. The company's woes worsened last Christmas, when it tried to match desperate markdowns at the bankrupt-bound Allied and Federated department store groups -- the properties of debt-driven Canadian raider Robert Campeau. The problems of retailers were underscored last week when Ames Department Stores, which entered bankruptcy in April as a result of an ill-fated $800 million takeover of the Zayre chain, said it would shut 221 stores and lay off 17,500 employees, or nearly one-third of its work force...
...failures are getting larger. The assets of bankrupt companies totaled $67 billion in 1989, up 52% from the previous year. The 1990 pace could be even quicker. Since January the Wall Street firm Drexel Burnham Lambert (assets: $3.6 billion) and , the U.S. retailing arm of Canada's Campeau Corp. ($9 billion) have sought protection from creditors. They joined such major companies as Eastern Air Lines and LTV Corp., the third largest U.S. steel company, which had earlier taken refuge in bankruptcy proceedings...
Turnaround experts can rake in hefty fees by representing ailing companies or disgruntled creditors -- or sometimes both. Lawyers and accountants earned nearly $4 million for preparing Campeau's 6,000-page bankruptcy petition in January, and currently share fees that total about $2 million a month for advising the company. The legal and financial specialists who guided Manville Corp. out of bankruptcy in 1988 received $100 million from the asbestos maker. "Every profession in the business of fixing and restructuring troubled companies is going through a sudden growth spurt," says Christopher Beard, publisher of Turnarounds & Workouts, an industry newsletter...
...month, Drexel Burnham Lambert beefed up a unit that advised distressed companies. The move was viewed with cynicism by some on Wall Street since Drexel, through its junk-bond financing of buyouts, was a prime contributor to today's bankruptcy boom. Other improbable rescuers include First Boston, which advised Campeau to borrow more than $10 billion to buy Bloomingdale's, Jordan Marsh and seven other U.S. store chains. Some critics attack Wall Street firms for profiting from both the debt buildup of the '80s and the subsequent spate of failures. "There ought to be something unethical about cashing...
...must land a spot on court-appointed creditor committees before they can earn big payments. To boost the odds in their favor, specialists often bombard the creditors who head the committees with letters and phone calls as part of campaigns known as "beauty contests." In the wake of the Campeau bankruptcy filing, 50 leading legal, accounting and investment firms have been battling for some 15 < seats on the all-important creditors' panels. Says a disappointed attorney who lost the opportunity to earn at least $300,000 in monthly fees: "It's a very political process...