CHICAGO, July 23 (UPI) -- A bankruptcy judge in Delaware approved a plan naming Tribune Co.'s new owners that would allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy, the Chicago Tribune said.
Junior creditors are likely to appeal the decision by Judge Kevin Carey, but legal experts doubt that will upend the decision, which makes the transfer of the company to senior creditors official.
Aurelius Capital and other junior creditors are expected, instead, to put most of their efforts into a lawsuit filed against current and past directors of the firm, 37,000 former shareholders who sold their shares in 2007 in a leveraged buyout, and Sam Zell, the billionaire who orchestrated the buyout.
In the deal confirmed by Carey, the new owners of the firm will be a group headed by Los Angeles Investment firm Oaktree Capital Management and including debt investor Angelo, Gordon & Co. and the bank JPMorganChase & Co.
The decision will allow the firm to emerge from bankruptcy later this year, the Tribune reported.
The company owns television and radio stations, as well as the Los Angeles Times, the Harford Courant, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Baltimore Sun and the Orlando (Florida) Sentinel, among others.
The agreement allows future owners to form a governance plan and name a board and chief executive officer. The Federal Communications Commission can also move forward on transferring TV and radio broadcast licenses to the new owners.
