SPORTS AUTHORITY SKIPS PAYMENT AMID CREDITOR TALKS
Englewood- based Sports Authority Inc. skipped a $ 20 million interest payment on its bonds due Friday as the retailer continued talks with creditors about howto restructure its debt.
The move follows several months of deliberations with Sports Authority’s financial adviser, Rothschild & Co., the company said.
Sports Authority is owned by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners LP. The chain, which has more than 450 stores, has struggled to keep up with competitors such as Dick’s Sporting Goods over the past decade.
The payment is the interest on its privately placed $ 343 million subordinated notes maturing in 2018. Without reaching an agreement with the bondholders for a forbearance, the company will be forced to file for bankruptcy because skipping a coupon payment is considered a default.
Muñoz leaving hospital after heart transplant. Nine days after a surprise
heart- transplant operation, United Airlines CEO Oscar Muñoz on Friday said his recovery is proceeding well and he was leaving the hospital to go to his Chicago home.
“I feel as strong as ever,” Muñoz told employees in a letter released by the company. “I feel great, and it won’t be long before we are working side by side again.”
Muñoz, who recently turned 57, was stricken by a heart attack in October, six weeks after taking the top job at the nation’s No. 3 carrier by traffic.
Ball gets EU approval to buy Rexam. Broomfield- based Ball Corp.
won European Union approval to buy RexamPlc to become the biggest maker of food and beverage cans after agreeing to sell 12 plants in the continent to eliminate antitrust concerns.
The divestment was needed to overcome the European Commission’s concerns that the transaction would have reduced competition in the “already concentrated markets for beverage cans and risked increasing prices for customers,” the EU regulator said Friday in Brussels, concluding its in- depth investigation.
GE sells appliance business for $ 5.4 billion B » Haier Group,
beijing the world’s biggest home appliance maker, is buying General Electric Co.’ s appliance business for $ 5.4 billion to expand its U. S. and global presence.
The acquisition announced Friday comes as Haier tries to transform itself into a premium brand. GE is shifting emphasis from traditional businesses such as appliances, in which it has been a prominent presence for more than a century, to highertechnology areas such as medical equipment and clean energy.
Report shows disappointing holiday sales B » Holiday
new york shoppers flocked online during the critical holiday shopping season, but overall sales in November and December were disappointing.
Sales rose 3 percent to about $ 626.14 billion, according to TheNational Retail Federation. That’s belowthe forecast for a 3.7 percent gain the group had expected. The group blamed the shortfall onwarmweather that led to bigger- than- planned discounts on clothing and other cold- weather items.
Fox News not moving to WTC.
News Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc., the media companies controlled by the Murdoch family, said they won’t be moving to a new building at New York’sWorld Trade Center, as previously planned. The companies will keep their headquarters in midtown Manhattan. In June, News Corp. and Fox said they had reached a nonbinding agreement to move to a new skyscraper downtown that would be known as 2World Trade Center.