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Re: Acterna (Wavetek) files for bankrutcy?

How's this for answering your own question! From washingtonpost.com:

Acterna Corp., a Germantown company that makes testing equipment for telecommunications networks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday and secured $30 million in new financing as part of its effort to reduce its debt.

Under terms of the reorganization, Acterna would cut its debt, which totals almost $1 billion, by more than two-thirds and reduce its annual interest payments by at least $45 million.

Acterna secured the new financing from a group of investors led by JPMorgan Chase Bank and General Electric Capital Corp., and said the money, along with the company's remaining cash, is enough to fund continuing operations.

In the final three months of last year, Acterna lost $16.2 million (8 cents per share) on revenue of $202.7 million. The loss was lower than in previous quarters as the company worked to cut costs. Acterna's workforce shrank by nearly 35 percent in 2002. Further cuts are expected.

But interest payments on debt were $17.8 million during the fourth quarter, and last month the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had decided not to make a $6.7 million interest payment on a $680 million bank loan. At the time of that default, the company also said it had hired advisers to explore possible restructuring plans that could include filing for bankruptcy protection.

The bankruptcy filing applies only to Acterna's domestic business and will not affect subsidiaries abroad. Approval of the plan is still required from the bankruptcy court and some of the company's lenders.

"We still need to get approval from other creditors, but the fact that it already has been pre-negotiated with our key bank lenders is a positive result," said spokesman Jim Monroe.

He said it is too early to know how long the company's reorganization will take or when it will emerge from bankruptcy.

Shares of Acterna, which were delisted from the Nasdaq SmallCap Market in January, fell to a 52-week low of 4 cents per share yesterday before closing slightly lower at 5 cents.

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Posted in reply to: Re: Acterna (Wavetek) files for bankrutcy? by warfin
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