RESTON, Va., Oct. 14 (Reuters) — XO Communications, the Internet service provider, said today that it had agreed to release the buyout firm Forstmann Little & Company and its partner from a deal to invest $800 million into the company.
Under the settlement, which must be approved by a federal bankruptcy court, Forstmann Little and its partner, the telecommunications company Teléfonos de México, will each pay XO $12.5 million. In exchange, XO will release the two companies from any claims related to the original investment agreement.
XO said the deal had the support of the billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn, who controls about 85 percent of the senior secured debt. XO intends to seek bankruptcy court approval for the settlement in mid-November and will move forward with its reorganization plan, which was filed earlier this year.
Forstmann, led by a leveraged buyout veteran, Theodore J. Forstmann, helped put together the $800 million investment in January. But it later sought to back out of the deal, saying the company had failed to meet certain conditions outlined in the agreement.
XO, which is based in Reston and provides telephone and data services to businesses, filed for bankruptcy protection in June.
XO was one of several telecommunications upstarts to seek bankruptcy protection after borrowing heavily to build networks that failed to attract enough traffic and customers. Other bankruptcy filings included those by Global Crossing, WorldCom and Williams Communications.
In XO's reorganization plan, the company has said that $1 billion in bank debt will be converted into stock and that it will issue $250 million in new equity in an offering to bondholders. It also plans to issue $500 million in new junior secured debt.
XO said that it had more than $500 million in cash and cash equivalents as of Sept. 30 and that it provided service to more than 100,000 business customers. It said it continued to add customers, cut costs and improve its operations.
The company is the subject of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is examining XO's sales practices and whether it properly paid taxes on sales of prepaid calling cards.
5 Time 5 Time 5 Time 5 Time 5 Time Wiener of the Day Runner-up
Hopefully by mid-November we'll finally be able to emerge from bankruptcy. (Maybe then they can start paying us back for all the nickel-and-dime shit they've been wringing out of us in the meantime...?) The stock will be worthless but at least the government will partially bail me out come tax time when I report the losses.
Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreezeHow does that work?
Meantime, people who bailed out of losing stocks this year can offset up to $3,000 in capital gains, but they must be actual losses, not paper losses. If you don't have capital gains, you can apply your stock losses against salary or other ordinary income on 2002 taxes, and you can carry forward to future tax bills any capital loss you can't offset this year, says personal financial planning manager Tom Pudner of KPMG in McLean, Va.
Raw rhymed with glory. Smackdown made me all shades of happy. WWE is getting good again. The crops? Jeezum Spice! Someone stole my crops. What in the ham fat is going on. That's just poo-doo! That's just my 2.458 Yen.
Plus, there's no need to be an asshole to your next door neighbor. Everybody should play nice and be cooperative. What a nicer world that would be, huh?