Bankruptcy Filing

A Wednesday bankruptcy filing by Synagro Technologies Inc. means growth and new jobs for the Baltimore area as the waste recycler consolidates its headquarters in White Marsh. The Carlyle Group LP-owned company, which had been co-headquartered in Baltimore and Houston, said Wednesday that it would use bankruptcy to restructure debt and sell its assets to EQT Infrastructure in a $455 million deal. The company filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization of its debts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and said it expects the sale to be completed in two to three months.

A Wednesday bankruptcy filing by Synagro Technologies Inc. means growth and new jobs for the Baltimore area as the waste recycler consolidates its headquarters in White Marsh. The Carlyle Group LP-owned company, which had been co-headquartered in Baltimore and Houston, said Wednesday that it would use bankruptcy to restructure debt and sell its assets to EQT Infrastructure in a $455 million deal. The company filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization of its debts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and said it expects the sale to be completed in two to three months.

Debt collection law firm Mann Bracken, which threw the courts and collections industry into disarray after abruptly shutting its doors last month, has been placed into receivership by the Montgomery County Circuit Court. The firm's attorney, James M. Hoffman, said a receiver was appointed Thursday at Mann Bracken's request. Receivership is an alternative to filing for bankruptcy protection. Mann Bracken said in January that it could not continue handling the cases it had filed against consumers on behalf of creditors.

Baltimore-based Vertis Holdings Inc., at one time the largest U.S. producer of advertising inserts in newspapers, plans to sell itself to a Wisconsin printing company for $258.5 million through an auction in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Vertis filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware Wednesday. It also sought court approval to sell its assets to Quad/Graphics, which produces retail advertising inserts and direct marketing and in-store marketing campaigns. It is the third bankruptcy-law filing in five years for Vertis, which also sought the court's protection to reorganize its finances in 2008 and 2010.

The phone call last week came as a shock. One of the last things Melissa and Maurice Dashiell wanted to hear from their homebuilder's salesman was that the company, NVR L.P., had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.But by Sunday, the young couple were feeling confident. They drove to King's Charter, the Bel Air subdivision where the foundation for their four-bedroom colonial had been poured recently. They were pleased to see that the wood for framing the home had been delivered on time.

ARLINGTON, Va. - US Airways Group Inc. and its pilots union will begin meeting every weekday starting today to speed talks on $300 million in proposed concessions that would help the carrier avoid a second bankruptcy filing. The meetings at the airline's headquarters follow "irregular" sessions, Air Line Pilots Association spokesman Jack Stephan said yesterday. Company executives, including Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lakefield, made a presentation Wednesday to the union, which represents about 3,000 active pilots and 1,879 who have been laid off. "Both sides realized we need to pick up the pace a little bit," Stephan said.

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has allowed environmental groups to appeal RG Steel 's plan to limit its investigation of potential toxic contamination in the waters surrounding Sparrows Point. While bankruptcy filings normally put all litigation on hold, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey granted a motion to pursue the appeal filed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation , Blue Water Baltimore and the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper . The groups had challenged a Baltimore federal judge's approval of an agreement between RG Steel and federal and state regulators to sample for toxic contaminants no more than 50 feet offshore of the steel mill at Sparrows Point.

Four years ago, the purchase of the Sparrows Point steel mill by OAO Severstal stirred hopes among steelworkers, their families and the community. Last year, the appearance of new owners Renco Group Inc. and its subsidiary, RG Steel, did, too. Four times in the past decade, expectations have periodically been raised in similar fashion. Might the next owners turn things around and provide the needed investments to make Sparrows Point competitive again? Each time, those hopes have been dashed and a parade of managers proved themselves unequal to the task.

In Monday's Business section, the incorrect type of bankruptcy filing was listed for Montage D'Elegance Ltd., 708 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville. The women's clothing retailer has filed for protection under Chapter 11.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 3/27/97

In March 24's editions of The Sun, the incorrect type of bankruptcy filing was listed for Montage D'Elegance Ltd., 708 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville. The women's clothing retailer has filed for protection under Chapter 11.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 3/31/97

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has allowed environmental groups to appeal RG Steel 's plan to limit its investigation of potential toxic contamination in the waters surrounding Sparrows Point. While bankruptcy filings normally put all litigation on hold, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey granted a motion to pursue the appeal filed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation , Blue Water Baltimore and the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper . The groups had challenged a Baltimore federal judge's approval of an agreement between RG Steel and federal and state regulators to sample for toxic contaminants no more than 50 feet offshore of the steel mill at Sparrows Point.

Four years ago, the purchase of the Sparrows Point steel mill by OAO Severstal stirred hopes among steelworkers, their families and the community. Last year, the appearance of new owners Renco Group Inc. and its subsidiary, RG Steel, did, too. Four times in the past decade, expectations have periodically been raised in similar fashion. Might the next owners turn things around and provide the needed investments to make Sparrows Point competitive again? Each time, those hopes have been dashed and a parade of managers proved themselves unequal to the task.

The bankruptcy filing by the owner of Sparrows Point casts yet another cloud over the future of steel-making there, but spokespeople for RG Steel and the Maryland Department of the Environment both say it should have no effect on the cleanup of longstanding toxic contamination there. "RG Steel will continue to meet environmental compliance requirements," company spokeswoman Bette Kovach said by email Thursday.  The company has continued cleanup work begun in 2010 by the mill's previous owner, Severstal North America, pumping and treating contaminated ground water to fulfill the terms of a consent decree with federal and state regulators that was agreed to in 1997 by the mill's original owner, Bethlehem Steel, which later filed for bankruptcy and sold the complex, beginning a series of handovers of the troubled facility.

Pending the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times and Style Magazine could be sold at auction next week. Zvi Guttman, the trustee in the case, asked the court Wednesday to approve a sale schedule, which calls for all bids for Alter Communications Inc. to be submitted to him by Tuesday afternoon and for the sale to be conducted on the morning of Wednesday, March 28. Objections to the proposed schedule are to be filed with the court by 10 a.m. Thursday.

The parent of K Bank, which became the latest Maryland bank to fail amid the real estate crisis, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The petition by K Capital Corp. was filed Monday in federal bankruptcy court in Baltimore. The bank's board of directors voted to turn over the Owings Mills-based institution to state regulators, after it was unable to turn around its finances or find a buyer. The bank's $500 million in deposits and about $411 million in assets were sold to M&T Bank.

Bankruptcy filings jumped nearly 36 percent in Maryland in the past year, continuing a recession-era trend of double-digit growth in cases, a federal courts report shows. The increase in Maryland, including business and individual bankruptcy cases, outpaced the 20 percent increase in filings nationally in the year that ended June 30, according to statistics released recently by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. More than 29,000 bankruptcy cases were filed in Maryland in that time, the report shows.

Developer Mark Vogel's debts on his two Maryland harness racing tracks total about $17 million, according to records from his Thursday bankruptcy filing, and the money owed includes hefty overdue payments to the state, his employee pension fund and two influential law firms.Vogel placed the approximate value of the tracks at $32.5 million -- a figure his attorney, Ira Wolpert, said was optimistic. Since Vogel's Sept. 13 arrest on a cocaine-possession charge, foreclosure actions have been filed against several of his real-estate projects.

Another business in the Brokerage is blaming the bankrupt shopping, restaurant and office complex for its own financial blues.Baltimore Grog & Tankard Inc., which brings local and nationally known music groups into its bar and restaurant, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Monday. It is the second bankruptcy filing by one of the Brokerage's tenants since the complex itself filed for reorganization in early March.The Brokerage enticed the Grog's owners into 34 Marketplace almost a year ago by promising them it would pay for contracting work needed to remodel, said 26-year-old Hammed Hossainkhail, who owns the restaurant with his brothers, Abdul and Khaled.

A fter hanging in limbo for four months, former employees of Erickson Retirement Communities heard Wednesday that the company will move to pay $750,000 of the $1.8 million in severance they're owed. Ex-employees owed less than $10,950 in severance would get everything previously pledged by the company, which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings since October. Those owed more would get only $10,950, several dozen of the former workers were told in a conference call Wednesday afternoon.

A foreclosure sale of the Hollander 95 Business Park in northeast Baltimore was canceled this week, after partners in the venture filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped the proceedings, according to auctioneer Paul Cooper of Alex Cooper Auctioneers. Hollander Rock LLC, which bought the 51-acre site for $4 million several years ago from the city of Baltimore, had planned to build a warehouse, distribution and manufacturing center. Only the 82,000-square-foot warehouse has been completed, and tenants have moved into half of the building.