Martin Lawrence Limited Editions Inc.
Announces Filing of Plan Of Reorganization
VAN NUYS, Calif.--July 2, 1997--Allen A. Baron, chairman of
the board of Martin Lawrence Limited
Editions Inc. (NASDAQ/OTCBB:MLLE), announced that on June 20,
1997, the company, in conjunction with Chalk & Vermilion Fine
Arts, LLC (Chalk), the company's largest secured creditor, and
the Official Committee of Creditors Holding General Unsecured
Claims (the committee), filed a plan of reorganization (the plan)
and a disclosure statement describing the plan (the disclosure
statement) in connection with the company's Chapter 11 cases.
In March 1997, Chalk approached the company seeking support
for the Chalk-funded plan. Negotiations between the company,
Chalk and the committee, all co-proponents of the plan,
culminated in the filing of the plan and the disclosure statement
with the bankruptcy court.
Under the plan, Chalk will exchange its approximately $1.2
million debt for 100 percent of the equity of the reorganized
company; $525,000 will be set aside for payment of general
unsecured claims; existing common stock and preferred stock of
the company will be extinguished; and other secured creditors
will receive either collateral or a payout over time, the terms
of which are still being finalized.
The disclosure statement was approved at a hearing in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California on June
26, 1997. The plan confirmation hearing has been scheduled for
Aug. 11, 1997, at 1:30 p.m.
CONTACT: Martin Lawrence Limited Editions Inc., Van Nuys Allen
A. Baron, 818/988-0630
Presidio Capital Corp. Information
Meeting Highlights
HAMILTON HM DX, Bermuda, July 2, 1997 - At the information
meeting of the shareholders of Presidio Capital Corp. held on
July 1, 1997, representatives of Wexford Management updated the
shareholders on Presidio's progress towards liquidation since
inception in November 1994. Holders of over 80% of Presidio
common shares were in attendance. At that meeting, shareholders
were advised as follows:
.. The number of Presidio subsidiaries had been reduced from
693 to 374 .. Litigations had been reduced to 26 from 114 at
inception .. The cash held for disputed bankruptcy claims had
been reduced from approximately $22 million to approximately $1
million .. Presidio had received a total of $316,822,000 as
proceeds from its liquidation of assets (representing over 321
assets) .. The remaining Presidio assets at March 31, 1997 had a
book value of $88,361,000. .. Presidio held approximately $76
million of cash, approximately $42 million of which it was
precluded from distributing on account of various contractual
obligations, approximately $15 million of which was held by
subsidiaries for tax and/or contingency reserve reasons, and
approximately $19 million of which is held as a reserve against
various liabilities and contingencies.
Presidio Capital Corp., the successor entity to Integrated
Resources, Inc., is engaged in the liquidation and disposition of
the assets of Integrated, which were acquired pursuant to the
Sixth Amended Plan of Reorganization submitted by the
Subordinated Bondholders Committee and the Steinhardt Group. The
plan of reorganization was consummated on November 3, 1994.
SOURCE Presidio Capital Corp. /CONTACT: Tony Smith of Presidio
Capital Corp., 441-295-9166/
Sun Jet Bankruptcy Impacts Mercury Air Group
LOS ANGELES, CA - July 2, 1997 - Mercury Air Group, Inc.
(AMEX/PCX: MAX) announced today that the Company will record a
special charge in the fourth quarter affecting fiscal 1997,
attributable to the filing of a bankruptcy by Sun Jet
International, Inc. and its parent company Sun Jet Holdings
Corp., located in Clearwater, Florida. Mercury officials
anticipate the charge to earnings related to the bankruptcy to be
in the range of five to seven cents per share on a fully diluted
basis. The charge includes losses from both an unsecured accounts
receivable from the sale of jet fuel and an equity investment in
the air charter company. The loss of Sun Jet's business will have
no material impact on Mercury's future revenues or earnings.
"Mercury has always supported the growth of the airline
industry through the extension of credit and more recently by
providing equity investment," said Seymour Kahn, Chairman of
the Board of Mercury Air Group, Inc., adding, "Given the
analysis, financial information, projections and other materials
supplied to us, we believed that Sun Jet represented a good
opportunity and that it was a profitable and rapidly growing
airline. Sun Jet's deterioration, following our involvement, was
unexpected based upon the information we were provided."
Founded in 1956 by three members of Claire Chennault's
legendary American Volunteer Group in China, better known to the
world as the fearless AVG Flying Tigers, Mercury Air Group, Inc.
is a worldwide provider of petroleum products, cargo and aviation
services to international and domestic commercial airlines,
general aviation and U.S. government aircraft. Mercury Air Group
has been named by FORTUNE magazine as one of America's "Top
100 Fastest Growing Companies."
SOURCE Mercury Air Group /CONTACT: David A. Herbst of Mercury
Air Group, 310-827-2737 or 310-577-8764/
UROHEALTH Systems, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY--Standard & Poor's CreditWire 7/2/97--
Standard & Poor's today has revised its outlook on UROHEALTH
Systems Inc. to stable from positive and has affirmed its ratings
on the company (see list below).
The outlook revision follows the company's announcement that
1997 losses will be greater than anticipated and that group
purchasing organizations have been slower to order products than
expected. UROHEALTH Systems' speculative-grade ratings reflect
challenges associated with the medical device company's fast
growth from a small base and reliance on a narrow product line
that is subject to changes in technology.
Newport Beach, Calif.-based UROHEALTH is a manufacturer and
distributor of urological, gynecological, and minimally invasive
surgical products. The company will be challenged to integrate a
host of acquisitions, while controlling and further growing a
company that was less than 10% its current size only two years
ago.
UROHEALTH participates in markets that are highlighted by very
strong competition, with products that are characterized by rapid
technological change and obsolescence. Indeed, technological or
market changes in only a few products could significantly impact
UROHEALTH.
The company has signed several long-term contracts on either
an exclusive or dual-sourced basis with major group purchasing
organizations. Recent acquisitions and mergers have broadened its
product offering and improved its market position. The company's
salesforce, relationships with physicians, and established
distribution channels are strengths.
Additionally, the company has a strong pipeline of products
under development with significant promise. However, the
company's heavy debt burden dominates its financial profile, with
lease-adjusted debt leverage expected to exceed 80% in 1997.
Importantly, Standard & Poor's expects funds from operations
to lease-adjusted debt to be weak at less than 10%.
The bank facility is rated the same as the corporate credit
rating. Although the facility derives strength from its secured
position, based on Standard & Poor's default scenario, it is
not clear that a distressed enterprise value would be sufficient
to cover the entire loan facility.
OUTLOOK: Stable. The outlook reflects Standard & Poor's
expectations that profitability will be restored and cash flow
coverage of interest expense will be about 2.0 times in 1998. --
CreditWire.
OUTSTANDING RATINGS AFFIRMED
Rating
Corporate credit rating B+
$110 million 12.5% senior subordinated notes
due 2004 Rule 144A with registration rights B-
Bank loan rating: $50 million revolving
credit facility B+
CONTACT: Elie Radinsky, New York, 212/208-8910
Phoenix Network Summarizes Conference Call of
June 30
GOLDEN, Colo., July 2, 1997 - On June 30 at 9:00 AM Mountain
Time, Phoenix Network (AMEX: PHX) held a joint conference call
with its merger partners, Resurgens Capital Corp. and
address questions and issues related to the three-way merger
which was announced in a previous press release on June 19, 1997.
During this call, which was co-chaired by Wallace M. Hammond
of Phoenix, John D. Phillips of Resurgens and James H. Sturges of
US ONE, the companies outlined their merger plans, broadly
described the new merger partner's long distance consolidation
and CLEC strategy, and laid out the significant events and timing
leading up to the definitive agreement and the Closing of the
transaction.
The merger partners indicated that they are currently involved
in discussions with several other long distance companies that
have expressed interest in joining the merger. The merger
partners believe that, based on the outcome of these discussions,
the newly formed company could have annualized revenue in excess
of $170 million at Closing. Furthermore, the merger partners
stated that they had been contacted by several additional
companies, representing total annualized revenue in excess of
$700 million, who are interested in participating in the initial
merger discussions. The stated objective of the new company is $1
billion in annualized revenue within the next 24 months,
generated both from internal growth, primarily from its CLEC
operation, and from the acquisition of additional long distance
revenue.
With respect to the significant events leading up to the
merger, the merger partners described an interim financing need
of approximately $35 million which has been arranged and will be
provided by Resurgens Capital Corp., and which is scheduled to be
delivered upon the signing of definitive merger documentation.
The merger partners also announced that they are working closely
with CS First Boston to explore their long term financing
alternatives for the merged entities. The merger partners stated
that they intend to attempt to raise between $150 million and
$225 million in Senior Secured, Zero Coupon, High Yield Debt, or
some combination thereof. The funding of the debt and the Closing
of the transaction will occur simultaneously and the current
target date of the closing is the Fourth Quarter of 1997.
Additionally, the merger partners described the important role
which Lucent Technologies will play in the transaction, both as
the manufacturer of its state of the art equipment and as US ONE
Corporation's largest supplier. The merger partners acknowledged
that they are currently engaged in conversations with Lucent to
restructure US ONE's Payables and stabilize their relationship
with this mission critical supplier/partner. US ONE stated that,
among other strategies, it is considering filing for Chapter 11
protection under the Bankruptcy code in order to reorganize the
company and help the new entity achieve its stated objectives.
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially
from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the
documents filed by Phoenix Network, Inc. with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission, specifically the most recent reports on
Forms 10-K and 10-Q and registration statements on Forms S-3 and
S- 4, which identify important risk factors that could cause
actual results to differ from those contained in the
forward-looking statements.
Phoenix Network is an inter-exchange carrier (IXC) which, in
addition to its core long distance products and services, offers
Internet access, enhanced fax services, international call-back,
conference calling, travel cards, debit cards, custom invoices,
management reports, and a variety of other products and services.
Phoenix Network's World Wide Web address is
http://www.phoenixnet.com.
SOURCE Phoenix Network/CONTACT: Monica Williamson, Phoenix
Network Investor Relations, 800-448-0804/ (PHX)