After weeks of crowing that bankruptcy is not an option for his faltering wireless venture, troubled hedge-fund honcho Phil Falcone yesterday said he is “seriously considering” seeking a voluntary bankruptcy for high-speed startup LightSquared.
Falcone told Reuters that a voluntary bankruptcy would allow him to avoid wiping out equity stakeholders, including his hedge fund Harbinger Capital Management, and buy him more time to find a solution to regulators’ threats to pull the plug on his troubled venture.
Falcone’s sudden admission that bankruptcy is, in fact, on the table came hours after The Post exclusively reported that a group of creditors, led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, was itching to demand a debt-for-equity swap and force Falcone, LightSquared’s biggest backer, out of the picture.
Falcone’s gargantuan flip-flop suggests he is desperately searching for a way to keep the company out of creditors’ hands and protect his $2.9 billion investment, observers said.
“He must have concluded that he’s not going to be able to command a majority of the first-lien debtholders to support him,” said Tim Farrar, a tech consultant with TMF Associates in Menlo Park, Calif.
The Post reported yesterday that holders of LightSquared’s $1.6 billion debt — a group that includes Icahn, David Tepper and Andy Beal — have until the end of April to decide whether to declare the loan in default due to a number of breaches, including Sprint Nextel’s decision to nix a deal to become LightSquared’s main carrier.
Farrar said a bankruptcy could also save the firm’s shaky partnership with UK satellite operator Inmarsat by putting a freeze on the contract.
LightSquared has been spiraling down since the Federal Communications Commission in February promised to pull the plug on the venture amid opposition from powerful agricultural and defense industries, which have complained the high-powered network would interfere with their costly GPS devices.
Phil Falcone, Harbinger Capital Management, Carl Icahn, Falcone, hedge fund, LightSquared, Federal Communications Commission, Andy Beal, David Tepper
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