Six Flags creditors demand disclosure by noteholders

Although creditors of theme-park operator Six Flags Inc. will be voting on a proposed reorganization plan, the creditors' committee is asking the bankruptcy court to require members of an unofficial committee of operating company noteholders to comply with bankruptcy rules by giving details about their holdings and trading in claims against the company.

Six Flags owns Great America in Gurnee.

The official committee contends in its motion filed Dec. 24 that the noteholders, while attempting to impose a plan on the company to serve their interests, were at the same time trying to shield themselves from the treatment they were attempting to impose on others.

The committee argues that the disclosure previously made by the unofficial committee members isn't as complete as the bankruptcy rules require. The official committee wants the bankruptcy judge to hold a Jan. 8 hearing on the motion to compel complete disclosure by the noteholders.

The proposed schedule calls for the contested confirmation hearing to begin March 8.

Law isn't settled with regard to disclosure of claim holdings by members of unofficial committees or groups.

In a decision early this month, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath in Delaware required a collection of noteholders to disclose their claim holdings in the Chapter 11 liquidation of bank holding company Washington Mutual Inc. She followed a ruling by Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in Manhattan in the Northwest Airlines reorganization while declining to follow a decision by Bankruptcy Judge Richard Schmidt in Corpus Christi, Texas, who didn't require disclosure. A bankruptcy judge in Philadelphia is currently writing an opinion on the same subject in the reorganization of Philadelphia Newspapers LLC.

The Six Flags Chapter 11 petition in June listed assets of $2.9 billion against debt totaling $3.4 billion, including an $850 million secured term loan and a $243 million revolving credit. New York-based Six Flags has 20 theme parks, with 18 in the U.S. The parks have 800 rides, including 120 roller coasters.

The case is Premier International Holdings Inc., 09-12019, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).