Eclipse Aviation, Jet Manufacturer, Seeks Bankruptcy (Update2)
By Michael Bathon and Dawn McCarty
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Eclipse Aviation Corp. sought bankruptcy protection as financing dried up, 19 months after the closely held planemaker won U.S. regulatory approval to build a new type of small jet.
Eclipse, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has assets of $100 million to $500 million and owes more than $1 billion to at least 5,000 creditors, according to Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. The company, founded in 1998, plans to sell its assets to ETIRC Aviation Sarl, which already owns a 65 percent stake.
“Due to a variety of factors, including the current global economic uncertainties,” Eclipse was unable to raise capital, Chief Financial Officer J.
Mark Borseth said in court papers. “Eclipse’s cash balance has declined to levels that jeopardize the continued operation of the company.”
Eclipse, with about 945 employees, produces the six-person 500, a “very light jet” that offers the speed and range of business jets at prices closer to those of high-end turboprops. There were 245 of the 500s in service as of late August, competing with planes from Textron Inc.’s Cessna. Honda Motor Co.’s aviation unit plans its own model in 2010.
DayJet Corp., a major Eclipse customer that flew to markets bypassed by larger airlines, filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 14 after failing to obtain more financing. DayJet signed a contract with Eclipse in 2002 for 239 of the 500-model jets with an option for 70 more, according to Eclipse’s
Web site.
FAA Approval
The Federal Aviation Administration certified the design of the 500 in September 2006 and granted production approval in April 2007. FAA employees later claimed that the approvals were rushed by the agency and safety concerns were ignored.
The allegations prompted a House aviation subcommittee hearing in September and an investigation by the Transportation Department’s inspector general,
Calvin Scovel, who found that the FAA was “strikingly accommodative” to Eclipse.
The FAA in June ordered emergency inspections of 500s to prevent engine-control failures after an “urgent” recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board. A 500 experienced “an uncontrollable increase” in thrust on a June 5 landing in Chicago, the NTSB said at the time.
To finance operations in bankruptcy, Eclipse plans to borrow as much as $20 million from ETIRC and Alfred E. Mann Living Trust, court papers show.
Eclipse said its largest creditors without collateral backing their claims are owed $705.8 million. The three biggest unsecured creditors hold about $231 million in bond debt: Kings Road Investments Ltd. is owed $92.3 million, HBK Master Fund has a claim of $84.9 million, and Citadel Horizons says it’s owed $53.5 million, according to court documents.
The case is In re Eclipse Aviation Corporation, 08-13031, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Bathon in Wilmington, Delaware, at
mbathon@bloomberg.net;
Dawn McCarty in Wilmington, Delaware, at
dmccarty@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: November 25, 2008 14:05 EST
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