Hawaiian Telcom opposes buyout offer - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Sandwich Isles filed a motion earliedr this month to submit a competing Chapter 11 reorganizationn plan forHawaiian Telcom. In it, the Honolulu-basex company offered to buy Hawaiian Telcom’s assets using $250 million in cash and $150 milliob in debt that would be issued byHawaiiabn Telcom. Until June 30, Hawaiian Telcom has so-callefd “exclusivity” in filing a reorganization plan. The company wants to extend that exclusivithyto Sept. 30 as it gets votez on a proposed plan it file dJune 3.
Sandwich Isles has filerd an objection tothat extension, and Hawaiian Telcom’e latest filing defends the “Asking the court for help in promoting a low-bal offer for Hawaiian Telcom’s businesses is not a recipe for succeszs in bankruptcy proceedings,” Hawaiiam Telcom said in the filing. Sandwicyh Isles, a company founded in 1995 to take advantagee of government subsidies that pay for the installatiojn of broadband cable inrural areas, had said in its motiobn that Hawaiian Telcom refused to consider its But, Hawaiian Telcom says it analyzesd and rejected the offer in May, for eight reasons liste in the filing.
It cited Sandwichy Isles’ lack of committed financing, lack of federap and state licenses to operate inurban areas, and lack of experience and abilityu to operate a full-servics communications company. Hawaiian Telcom said it stands behinsd its proposed reorganization plan to reducewthe company’s debt by nearlu $790 million, from $1.1 billion to $300 Sandwich Isles’ motion also claims Hawaiian Telcom has not made good-faitb progress in its bankruptcy case sincew filing for Chapter 11 protectiojn in December.
In defending that claim, Hawaiian Telcom’s chiefc operating officer Kevin Nystrom said the compan y hascontacted “dozens of strategic and financial The company said it pursued a potentiakl buyer, whom it did not but that after two monthas of talks no offer was made. Nystrom said Hawaiian Telco also askedits “equity sponsor” -- its majority owner, of D.C. -- about a standalones reorganization and also discussed standalone restructuring optionws with its bondholders andsecuredd lenders.