Delta asks to end pilot pensions
Delta Air Lines Inc. filed a formal request with bankruptcy court late Friday to terminate its pilots’ pension plan, as President Bush prepared to sign a bill aimed in part at helping the struggling carrier save its other employees’ pensions.
If the court in New York approves Delta’s request to cancel its pilots’ pensions effective Sept. 2, the government’s pension insurer would take over the plan and pay pilots a reduced benefit based on when they retire and other factors. A hearing on the request is set for Sept. 1.
The 6,000 pilots, as part of a $280 million concessions agreement with the company first reached in April, have agreed not to oppose the pension termination request, though other groups may oppose it. Atlanta-based Delta notified the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. in June of its intent to seek termination of the plan.
The bankruptcy court request comes just a day after the Senate approved a pension bill that provides special relief for Delta and Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines Corp., allowing them to have 17 years to fully fund their pension plans.
Houston
Energy traders’ verdicts baffle
Jurors convicted two former Houston energy traders of a handful of wire-fraud charges Friday, but either acquitted them or couldn’t reach a verdict on other conspiracy and false reporting counts.
The verdicts in the trial of ex-Dynegy Inc. trader Michelle Valencia and ex-El Paso Corp. trader Greg Singleton baffled defense lawyers and the stunned defendants.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Valencia told her attorney, Chris Flood, minutes after U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas read the roller-coaster verdict.
Jurors, who had reported deadlocks for two days on some counts, declined to explain their decision and quickly left the Houston federal courthouse without comment.
Valencia was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud and acquitted of five counts of false reporting and two other counts of wire fraud. Jurors couldn’t reach verdicts on a single count of conspiracy and eight other counts of false reporting.
Kirkland, Wash.
Larry’s Markets accepts offer
Larry’s Markets Inc. has accepted a California investor group’s $5.5 million offer to buy most of the local chain’s grocery stores.
The company, based in this Seattle suburb, has been looking for a buyer since January and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, citing heavy debt and an increasingly competitive market.
Under an agreement filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Larry’s would sell five of its six stores and its catering business to LM Acquisition Partners LLC. The investor group is headed by Michael Teel, whose grandfather founded Raley’s, a West Sacramento-based grocery-store chain; and Michael Ashker, who runs Agility Partners, an investment firm near Sacramento.
They’ve agreed to buy Larry’s two stores in Seattle and three in Kirkland, Redmond and Bellevue, east of Seattle.