A judge has approved the debt refinancing plan of a Davenport-based newspaper publisher. Lee Enterprises, publisher of 48 daily newspapers, including the Quad-City Times, says a U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved a refinancing plan that allows the company to emerge from a voluntary, prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of the month.
Lee filed the bankruptcy on December 12th in an effort to refinance nearly $1 billion in debt. A portion of the debt had been due in April of this year. But now repayment due dates have moved to 2015 and 2017. Previously Lee had reached a refinancing agreement with most of its creditors.
The prepackaged bankruptcy forced a small minority of nonconsenting lenders to go along with a refinancing plan.
By Phil Roberts, Davenport