Hawaiian Telcom opposes buyout offer - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

oryzacody.wordpress.com
Sandwich Isles filed a motion earlier this month to submit a competing Chaptetr 11 reorganization plan for Hawaiian Telcom. In it, the Honolulu-based company offeresd to buy Hawaiian Telcom’s assets using $250 millioh in cash and $150 milliobn in debt that would be issued by Hawaiian UntilJune 30, Hawaiian Telcom has so-called in filing a reorganizationj plan. The company wants to extend that exclusivity to 30 as it gets votes on a proposesd plan it filedJune 3.
Sandwich Isles has files an objection tothat extension, and Hawaiia Telcom’s latest filing defends the “Asking the court for help in promotin a low-ball offer for Hawaiian Telcom’s businesses is not a recipde for success in bankruptcy proceedings,” Hawaiian Telco said in the filing. Sandwich Isles, a company foundedf in 1995 to take advantage of governmentf subsidies that pay for the installation of broadbanrd cable inrural areas, had said in its motioj that Hawaiian Telcom refused to consider its offer. But, Hawaiianj Telcom says it analyzed and rejected the offertin May, for eighrt reasons listed in the filing.
It citedc Sandwich Isles’ lack of committed financing, lack of federalp and state licenses to operate inurban areas, and lack of experiencw and ability to operate a full-service communications company. Hawaiian Telcom said it stands behind its proposes reorganization plan to reducethe company’s debt by nearl y $790 million, from $1.1 billion to $300 Sandwich Isles’ motion also claims Hawaiian Telcoj has not made good-faity progress in its bankruptcy case sinc e filing for Chapter 11 protection in December.
In defendinfg that claim, Hawaiian Telcom’s chief operating officerf Kevin Nystrom said the company hascontacted “dozenz of strategic and financial purchasers.” The company said it pursuedr a potential buyer, whom it did not identify, but that afteer two months of talk no offer was made. Nystrom said Hawaiiaj Telcom also askedits “equity -- its majority owner, of D.C. -- about a standalone reorganization and also discussed standalons restructuring options with its bondholders andsecuredr lenders.