Ex-Allens' owner: Payment terms not met
Veg Liquidation Inc., the former owner of bankrupt Allens Inc., along with the company's new owner, says the sale agreement does not require payment of a $2.3 million claim until certain conditions are met.
In August, Bankruptcy Judge Ben Barry overruled Veg Liquidation's objections that D&E Farms of Pennsylvania improperly included freight and fuel charges and that it breached its fiduciary duty by claiming those expenses under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. Both Sager Creek Vegetable Co., the new owner of what was once Allens, and Veg Liquidation have appealed the ruling to the Western District Court of Arkansas.
Attorneys for D&E Farms contended in court filings in early September the vegetable supplier was owed the money within 30 days of the ruling, despite the ongoing appeal.
In separate filings Thursday, Sager Creek and Veg Liquidation argued the court-approved sale agreement does not require payment until a ruling from the court that the claims are final and cannot be appealed. Both filings also note that Veg Liquidation does not have the funds to pay the claim, since Sager Creek obtained all of the former Allens' assets as part of the sale.
Barry is still considering objections by Veg Liquidation to nearly $10 million in other claims made by other company's suppliers under the act.
In late October, the Siloam Springs-based canned-vegetable company filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Arkansas. Sager Creek Acquisition Corp. bought the assets of Allens Inc. at auction in February and changed the name of the company to Sager Creek Vegetable Co. in July.
-- John Magsam
USA Truck adds new member to board
USA Truck has added Gary Enzor, a veteran transportation executive and board member, to its board of directors.
Enzor will replace Terry A. Elliott, who served 11 years on the board for the Van Buren-based trucking and transportation company. Currently, Enzor is chairman and chief executive officer of Quality Distribution Inc., a publicly-traded company that specializes is chemical transportation and container services.
USA Truck has added four new board members since its annual shareholders meeting in May.
Prior to joining Quality Distribution in 2007, Enzor worked as chief financial officer and executive vice president of Swift Transportation. Enzor has graduate and undergraduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University.
"Gary's deep knowledge of our industry, combined with his strategic and financial expertise, will be a valuable asset to USA Truck as we work to further advance our company's financial performance and create long-term shareholder value," USA Truck Chairman Robert A. Peiser said in a news release.
Quality Distribution is headquartered in Tampa and operates more than 3,500 trucks with 100 locations.
-- Chris Bahn
Greece to forgo IMF loans to end bailout
ATHENS, Greece -- Finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis signaled Friday that Greece may forgo International Monetary Fund emergency loans in 2015 and 2016 in order to secure an exit from the terms of its bailout.
"The IMF doesn't want to lend alone; the Europeans feel itchy about the IMF lending and them staying out," Hardouvelis, 59, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. "All possibilities are up for grabs." He declined to say what kind of solution Greece and its creditors will opt for.
While the eurozone's support program for Greece expires this year, the IMF is scheduled to continue disbursing funds until the first quarter of 2016. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is working to end the $310 billion bailout which came with strict conditions that fueled a political backlash and exacerbated a recession that has wiped out about a quarter of the economy.
Samaras has said on several occasions this year that the end of bailout agreements is near as Greece regains market access.
-- The Associated Press
SEC clamps down on for-profit colleges
ITT Educational Services Inc., an operator of for-profit colleges, said it received a notice that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may take enforcement action related to its loans to students.
Shares of ITT Educational slid 35 percent to close Friday at $4.95 in New York. The shares had lost more than three-quarters of their value this year through Thursday.
The company has also been placed on heightened cash monitoring by the Education Department and must disburse student funds before drawing federal Title IV money, Carmel, Ind.-based ITT Educational said Friday in a regulatory filing. It said it received the Wells notice from the SEC on Aug. 7.
The federal government and state attorneys general are clamping down on for-profit colleges for their recruiting, lending and marketing practices. Corinthian Colleges Inc. said in July that it plans to close or sell its 107 campuses after the Education Department imposed a 21-day delay on its access to student loan funds.
-- Bloomberg News
Poor harvest puts Italy wine down 15%
Italy's wine volume is forecast to slide 15 percent this year after disease affected harvesting, an Italian researcher and Italy's wine union said.
The 2014 vintage may drop to 1.08 billion gallons from 1.27 billion gallons last year, with production falling in the north and the south of the country, the researcher -- Istituto di Servizi per il Mercato Agricolo e Alimentara -- and the wine union wrote in a joint online statement Friday.
The grape crop suffered from fungal disease, particularly mildew and botrytis, according to the report. Average rainfall in Italy was 73 percent above normal in July, according to the country's wine-industry technicians association.
"A difficult and complicated harvest," Domenico Zonin, president of the Italian Wine Union, was cited as saying in the statement. "We can agree the production was poor in terms of quantity and with a lower sugar content, we can't express ourselves on quality."
-- Bloomberg News
GM to unveil new Cadillac sedan in 2015
DETROIT -- General Motors will begin building a new, top-end Cadillac sedan late next year at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.
The automaker said Friday that the rear-wheel drive car will make its debut in the first half of 2015, and that it will reveal the name of the new model soon.
The new Cadillac is part of a $384 million investment GM announced last spring in the assembly plant, which straddles the border of Detroit and Hamtramck. That plant also makes the Opel Ampera, the Chevrolet Impala and the Cadillac ELR, a luxury version of the hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt. The carmaker said the factory is capable of building five models on one production line.
GM has released three new Cadillac models in the past six years: the XTS, Cadillac's biggest sedan; the ATS entry-level luxury car; and the ELR, which hit the market in January.
"The objective for this upcoming model is to lift the Cadillac range by entering the elite class of top-level luxury cars," Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said in a news release.
-- The Associated Press
Network: $65 million not owed to Gore
Al Jazeera Satellite Network has fired back at Al Gore, claiming in a lawsuit that the former vice president isn't entitled to $65 million held in escrow from the 2013 purchase of his Current TV cable network.
Gore sued Al Jazeera in August over the funds, held back as part of the $500 million deal, claiming network officials sought to improperly use the money to resolve their disputes with distributors, including Time Warner Cable Inc., Dish Network Corp. and AT&T Inc.
Gore and other former Current TV owners violated agreements with some of the former distributors and "blatantly ignored" their contractual obligations, Al Jazeera said in the filing. The network had to fend off distributors' lawsuits and is entitled to use money in the escrow to cover the costs, lawyers for the Qatar-based broadcaster said.
Al Jazeera bought Current to gain access to millions of U.S. homes and start a new U.S. news channel. Gore was to make an estimated $100 million from the sale of Current, which he helped to start in 2004. After debt, he was expected to gross an estimated $70 million for his 20 percent stake, people familiar with the transaction said last year.
Gore, 66, didn't immediately return a call for comment Friday on the Al Jazeera countersuit.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 09/20/2014