Big City on the auction block
Big City Radio (A:YFM) has figured out how to get out of its financial troubles - - it's put all of its stations up for sale. The company announced late Monday (11/4) that it had retained Mark Jorgenson's Jorgenson Broadcast Brokerage "to market and conduct an auction of all of the Company's radio stations."
RBR last reported that some of Big City's bondholders had declared the notes in default and demanded immediate payment of all principal and interest after the company missed a $9.8M interest payment that was due 9/15 and hadn't been paid by the time the one month grace period expired (10/18 RBR Daily Epaper).
According to Big City's announcement: "Proceeds from any sales of the stations will be utilized first to pay principal and interest in respect of the Company's 11 1/4 % Senior Discount Notes due 2005 and to pay any other Company liabilities, with any remaining proceeds to be distributed to the Company's shareholders. The sale of any of the stations will be subject to the approval of the Company's Board of Directors as well as the approval of the Federal Communications Commission. The sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company will be subject to shareholder approval. No assurances can be provided that the Company will be successful in selling the stations at all or selling the stations at prices sufficient to pay the principal and interest on the Notes. In the absence of successful sales, the Company will consider other strategic alternatives including filing for protection under the United States bankruptcy laws."
Big City owns stations in and around New York, Los Angeles and Chicago - - mostly multi-signal simulcasts which seek to cover the metro with mostly lower-power suburban stations.
