Brooke Files Bankruptcy
A day after a special master overseeing the company said it might be bought, Brooke Corp. and a subsidiary have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The bankruptcy petition filed for Brooke Corp., listed $512.9 million in total assets and $447.4 million in total debts. The filing for the subsidiary, Brooke Capital Corp., showed total assets of $106.2 million and total debts of $111.7 million.
The filing was made on Oct. 28, the same day Brooke special master Albert Riederer said that two Kansas businessmen had offered to buy Brooke’s insurance operations for an undisclosed price.
The Kansas Insurance Department issued a statement that said that any “premium paid by Kansas consumers to a Brooke Corporation agent/agency and/or the special master appointed by the court shall be treated as constructive receipt of premium.”
No cancellation of coverage will take place if payment of premium has been made to any Brooke Corp. agent or agency, the statement said.
Efforts to obtain comment from Albert A. Riederer, the special master appointed in federal court in September to oversee Brooke, or other Brooke representatives were not immediately successful.
Court documents describe a chaotic and hollowed-out corporate shell at Brooke: “Since the appointment of the special master, all of top management and most members of the board of directors of debtors and the other Brooke affiliates have resigned their positions. There is no one left who has overall management knowledge or experience.”
In the filing, Riederer told the court that attempts “to stabilize” Brooke have failed, concluding that the “financial condition ... is too deteriorated for there to be a realistic chance of reorganization and rehabilitation of the entire Brooke group of companies. Some individual subsidiaries and parts of business of others ... may be salvageable enough to realize the highest value by going concern sales.”
Riederer was appointed in September as part of a suit filed by the Bank of New York Mellon, according to court documents.
Source: Source: Best Wire | Published on October 30, 2008
Are you a retail Agent Looking for a Quote?