[time-nuts] LightSquared going bankrupt

[J. Forster]

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — LightSquared Inc. a venture of hedge-fund manager
Philip Falcone was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy Sunday as talks
with lenders to avoid going bust have faltered, The Wall Street Journal
reports, citing unnamed sources.

Reuters
 Hedge fund manager Philip Falcone, LightSquared’s main backer.

The parties have until 5 p.m. Eastern Monday to keep LightSquared out of
Chapter 11 but the sides remain far apart, the newspaper reported, and some
people involved see the company ready to make preparations for bankruptcy.

LightSquared’s board was slated to meet Sunday to talk about authorizing a
bankruptcy filing, the Journal reported, and it is likely to come before
Monday evening.

LightSquared needs an extension of a debt-term violations waiver that
expires Monday but Falcone and the lenders could not agree on how much of a
stake in the venture would be ceded to get it.

Falcone’s hedge fund, Harbinger Capital Partners, is LightSquared’s main
backer.

He has put billions of dollars of his and his investors’ money into the
venture, which is aimed at competing with AT&T  T -0.54%
<http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/T?link=MW_story_quote>  ,
Verizon  VZ +0.29%
<http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/VZ?link=MW_story_quote>   and
others to sell wireless service wholesale.

However, his attempt to create a nationwide high-speed mobile broadband
network have been blocked by federal regulators who say they’re concerned
it could interfere with Global Positioning System signals.
 William Spain is a MarketWatch staff writer in Chicago.