http://www.newwest.net/topic/main/C61/L/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2008 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:42:20 MDT Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:42:20 MDT http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/crossharbor_wins_inside_track_in_yellowstone_club_bankruptcy/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/crossharbor_wins_inside_track_in_yellowstone_club_bankruptcy/C61/C61/ Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:17:21 MDT A hard-fought struggle for control of the bankrupt Yellowstone Club ended mid-afternoon on Wednesday when a federal bankruptcy judge gave CrossHarbor Capital Partners, a Boston-based hedge fund, the right to loan the club $20 million while it reorganizes its debt - a process that will likely last until the end of April. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher issued his order after weeks of negotiations and three days of court testimony. The Yellowstone Club filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 10, citing debts of more than $360 million, with about $311 million owed to investors assembled by international bank Credit Suisse. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_returns_to_bankruptcy_court_to_sink_further_into_debt/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_returns_to_bankruptcy_court_to_sink_further_into_debt/C61/C61/ Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:11:51 MDT As Edra Blixseth and the Yellowstone Club return to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday, the central questions will not revolve around paying the club's debts -- but rather miring the club deeper in red ink. The club's lawyers filed a motion on Monday to ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher to OK a second emergency loan to keep the club operating while in bankruptcy. Two weeks ago, the club where only the best would do didn't have enough money for propane for heat, or the shuttle to move employees to and from nearby towns, much less enough cash to actually pay those employees, even for one more day. That's when the club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Montana court. Chapter 11 allows a business to remain open while it makes a plan to pay its debts. The filing came in the wake of an ugly divorce between Edra Blixseth and ex-husband Tim, allegations of large-scale financial impropriety and the collapse of the high-end real estate market as well as the credit markets that funded it. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/montana_loses_jobs_as_construction_and_support_services_decline/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/montana_loses_jobs_as_construction_and_support_services_decline/C61/C61/ Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:32:00 MDT Montana's unemployment rate has inched upward to a still-healthy 4.8 percent, according to the most recent figures from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, as every sector but healthcare and hospitality services contracted. "Overall, Montana has been weathering the economic situation pretty well," said state economist Aaron McNay. "I see Montana following a path similar to the rest of the nation." Montana's economy, it seems, is slightly better -- or its downturn is delayed -- compared to the national economy. The national unemployment rate in October hit 6.5 percent, up 0.4 percent from the previous month. Montana's rate increased at half that rate, at 0.2 percent. Montana actually added 900 jobs, according to one set of statistics, from September to October. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/in_tough_economy_art_becomes_a_hard_sell/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/in_tough_economy_art_becomes_a_hard_sell/C61/C61/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:03:57 MDT "We're closing at the end of the month, so that's how it's effecting us," said Carol Hoffnagle, who opened Studio 12 Art Gallery on Broadway and Pattee Street with her husband in downtown Missoula a little over a year ago. "In September we felt we were just getting going," Hoffnagle added. Over the past decade art galleries flourished and multiplied in the Mountain West, as flush tourists and new and moneyed residents in the region snatched up artwork to hang on the region's new wall space. Estimates by longtime gallery owners is that the number of galleries selling original artwork in towns like Missoula and Bozeman has roughly doubled or tripled since the late 1990s. The abrupt collapse of the real estate industry and the national recession has brought hard times to the art galleries. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/lemonds_continues_long_legal_fight_with_yellowstone_club/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/lemonds_continues_long_legal_fight_with_yellowstone_club/C61/C61/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:37:49 MDT The Tour de France might come to seem less grueling -- and certainly less murky -- than Greg LeMond's two-year legal fight against the Yellowstone Club, which he resumed this week when he asked a Montana judge to order club owner Edra Blixseth to pay him the final $13.5 million of a $21.5 million settlement, a Bloomberg story says. The judge granted LeMond's request, but the cycling great, who won the world's top cycling race in 1986, 1989 and 1990, will have to get in line for his money. The Yellowstone Club, which Edra Blixseth only won control of in August after a long and bitter public divorce with former timber executive Tim, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 10. In her filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte, Montana, Blixseth tallied the club's debts at about $350 million. The biggest liability is $307 million, not including interest, to Credit Suisse Group. The Zurich-based bank loaned the club $375 million in 2005. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_gets_a_brief_lease_on_life/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_gets_a_brief_lease_on_life/C61/C61/ Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:02:19 MDT A Montana bankruptcy judge reluctantly breathed three weeks of life into the Yellowstone Club in a Missoula courtroom Thursday when he OK'd a three-week loan to keep the club operating during the next stage of bankruptcy hearings. "Why am I doing this?" asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ralph B. Kirscher, who called it "troubling" and "overkill" that his order included the terms and conditions of a $4.4 million temporary bailout loan from lender Credit Suisse to the luxurious-but-broke private club. "What happens if I don't sign this order?" Kirscher said. "If you would have asked me at one o'clock last night, I would have said, 'This isn't going to get signed. I'll let things fall where they may.'" http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_bankruptcy_exposes_brutal_financial_showdown/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_bankruptcy_exposes_brutal_financial_showdown/C61/C61/ Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:11:09 MDT Once touted as the world's pre-eminent leisure community for the mega-rich, with billionaires from Bill Gates on down among its members, the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana, doesn’t have enough cash in the bank to buy propane, owner Edra Blixseth said in bankruptcy court in Missoula Wednesday. The four companies that operate collectively as the Yellowstone Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Montana on Monday, citing debts of about $360 million, most of it owed to a consortium of lenders led by international bank Credit Suisse. Chapter 11 allows a business to operate while it reorganizes its debt, and in this case the bankruptcy filing comes in the wake of an ugly divorce, allegations of large-scale financial impropriety, and a complete meltdown of the high-end real estate market and the credit markets that funded it. The club doesn't have enough cash to make its $600,000 monthly payroll for its 521 employees or to buy food for its restaurants, or for the electricity needed to operate the chairlifts at its storied private ski area. Last week, the club's checking account had only about $40,000. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/bitterroot_resort_gets_initial_ok_from_forest_service/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/bitterroot_resort_gets_initial_ok_from_forest_service/C61/C61/ Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:49:15 MDT The proposed Bitterroot Resort passed an early hurdle from the Bitterroot National Forest on Monday. "We passed our first screening," said manager Jim Gill. "This is just one of many steps." The Bitterroot Resort seeks to develop as part of its four-season resort 3,000 acres of Forest Service land (down from the 12,000 originally requested in 2005) for gladed skiing, Nordic skiing, and mountain biking, none of which would require ski lifts to access. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_in_desperate_straits_court_papers_say/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_in_desperate_straits_court_papers_say/C61/C61/ Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:34:29 MDT The Yellowstone Club near Bozeman teeters on the brink of closure and lacks the cash to make payroll for 521 employees for the next three weeks, if a Montana bankruptcy judge doesn't allow the company to take on another $4.5 million in debt and spend its cash collateral, according to a plea filed in the resort's bankruptcy case. The uber-exclusive, 13,600-acre Yellowstone Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Monday, citing a total of $344 million in debt, mostly to international bank Credit Suisse, and about $1.1 billion in assets, court filings say. A special request filed alongside the initial bankruptcy papers asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher to OK an immediate hearing in the case to decide whether the club could use its cash collateral and to take out the loan. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_files_for_bankruptcy/C61/C61/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/yellowstone_club_files_for_bankruptcy/C61/C61/ Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:35:30 MDT Late Monday the uber-exclusive Yellowstone Club near Bozeman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after negotiations broke down with lender Credit Suisse, from whom it borrowed some $300 million several years ago. The first court filings, which bear the signature of club manager and co-owner Edra Blixseth, cite a combined debt of $344 million and assets of about $1.1 billion. The bankrupt companies include Yellowstone Mountain Club, Yellowstone Development, Big Sky Ridge, and Yellowstone Club Construction Co, according to court documents. "I think we had a perfect storm. We're in a tough liquidity position," said club spokesman Bill Keegan. "We were seeking new long-term financing as part of our long-term capital needs, and then the lending markets froze. We felt it was best to protect the club, the members, and our future by seeking Chapter 11 protection."