Liquidation

A federal judge in Phoenix approved a plan on Friday to liquidate bankrupt American Continental Corp. and to pay creditors $21 million from its former subsidiary, Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan. About $14.6 million of that payment is earmarked for American Continental's largest creditor group, those who purchased American Continental bonds primarily at Lincoln branches in Southern California.

The Beverly Hills and Los Angeles offices of the country's fourth-largest law firm, New York-based Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, began liquidating at the close of business Tuesday, a West Coast spokesman for the firm confirmed. The impending demise of the 20-year-old firm became known publicly about six weeks ago. It has been struggling under a debt load estimated at $60 million to $85 million.

Ailing Twinkies maker Hostess Brands Inc. is going toe-to-toe with its workers' unions in a courtroom clash that the company said may lead to its liquidation. Hostess is trying to persuade a federal bankruptcy judge in New York to allow it to reject existing collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters and bakers' unions. The maker of Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, three years after emerging from its last bankruptcy.

FGS Insurance Agency, a low-cost auto insurer that has been accused of fraud, will be liquidated by a bankruptcy trustee, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said Thursday. "This is the end of the road for FGS--a road strewn with the wreckage of chiseled policyholders and bilked creditors," Garamendi said in a statement. "But we will move quickly to clean up this rubble."

Amaranth Advisors, the hedge fund manager that lost billions of dollars in energy trades, will suspend investor redemptions and liquidate its remaining positions, the company said in a letter to clients. Amaranth will continue to pursue strategic alliances, the letter said, after its net asset value declined by 65% to 70% during September. Its funds are down 55% to 60% year to date, it estimated.

Wade Cook Financial Corp. was ordered liquidated by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Glover on Friday after the money-losing stock market seminar company's chief executive failed to provide testimony requested by creditors. The creditors of Seattle-based Wade Cook Financial asked the court Dec. 19 to force the company and its subsidiary, Stock Market Institute of Learning Inc.

Sigmatron Nova, a Thousand Oaks maker of electronic display panels, plans to liquidate after failing to find a buyer for the company. The company has suspended operations and said it expects to complete its liquidation within the next month. Sigmatron Nova said it expects proceeds from the liquidation to cover its outstanding debts, but that there will not be assets remaining for payment to the company's stockholders.

The Denver-based aircraft company, which had been attempting to develop an experimental executive plastic-like aircraft with a rear propeller, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It listed assets of $7 million and liabilities of $475 million. The filing came just a few days after the principals, including the widow of aviation pioneer William Lear, created a general partnership apparently intended to retain the manufacturing rights to the project.

Financial Corp. of America, once the parent company of American Savings & Loan, has applied for formal liquidation, it was announced Wednesday. A motion will be filed in bankruptcy court to change the company's petition from Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to Chapter 7, said David A. Gill, FCA's trustee. That means that FCA will be liquidated and not reorganized.

Mission Viejo developer Richard C. Boatman, who for years tried to get a 22-acre shopping center project built in the city of Vista, has filed for liquidation. Boatman's firm, Richard Boatman & Associates, listed debts of nearly $22 million in its petition under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In the petition, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, the company said its assets totaled $326,800.