UAL seeks more time to locate lenders By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY UAL is asking a bankruptcy judge to give its bankers more time to find=20 additional lenders to contribute to a $1.2 billion loan package needed to=20 keep the company operating. United Airlines' parent is not in danger of=20 running out of cash soon. People knowledgeable about the company's finances= =20 say its cash levels are higher than expected. But the delay in completing=20 the loan package almost certainly means UAL will have to pay a higher=20 interest rate or higher fees to obtain the money. The delay comes as United= =20 executives are scrambling to bring a preliminary business plan before UAL's= =20 board this week. Some creditors are asking why that has taken so long.=20 United filed for bankruptcy court-protected reorganization Dec. 9 and won=20 tentative approval for $1.5 billion in debtor financing from four lenders:= =20 J.P. Morgan, Citicorp, CIT Group and Bank One. Those lenders, in turn, are= =20 seeking to "syndicate" $1.2 billion of the loan, or re-market it in smaller= =20 amounts to other lenders to spread the risk. People familiar with the loan process say that despite UAL's substantial=20 loan collateral and cost cutting in recent weeks, too few lenders have=20 committed at the current terms. According to a motion UAL's lawyers filed=20 Thursday in bankruptcy court, the deadline was last week, and UAL's bankers= =20 want until Feb. 24.Lenders' reluctance doesn't appear to be tied to UAL's=20 recent financial performance. The company recently won temporary pay cuts=20 from employees worth $70 million a month. It's expected to meet or exceed a= =20 February cash-flow target the lenders are requiring, knowledgeable people=20 say. The loan is backed by collateral valued at more than double the loan=20 amount, including planes, airport gates and landing slots, and United's=20 authorities to serve U.S.-London Heathrow and U.S.-Tokyo routes, these=20 people say. But a bankruptcy loan that large is unusual, and UAL is seeking it amid the= =20 airlines' worst slump in history and threats of war with Iraq. "It's still= =20 touch-and-go for United =97 whether it has a good business plan and will get= =20 necessary concessions from its unions," says lawyer Jon Schneider, who's=20 worked on other airline bankruptcies. UAL says it's on track. "It's been=20 less than 60 days since we filed (Chapter 11)," says UAL spokesman Jeff=20 Green. "We're on the schedule we set for ourselves." Some in the financial= =20 community say UAL is taking longer than did US Airways, which is also in=20 Chapter 11, to define what the reorganized company will look like. "United= =20 has some steep hurdles to get across," says airline analyst Ray Neidl of=20 Blaylock & Partners. "People may be taking a wait-and-see attitude." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************