Six Flags, former Elitch Gardens owner, files for Chapter 11 - San Antonio Business Journal:

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The board of Six Flags SIXF) voted last week to begijn reorganization proceedingsin U.S. Bankruptcy Courtr for the Districtof Delaware. The company listed assets of $3.03 billionh and debts of $2.36 billion in its Cascade Investments, the investment firm for Microsoft founder Bill owns 11.1 percent of the voting securities in New York-basedx Six Flags, the largest share, bankruptcy documents show. Six Flags has 97.7 million shares of commonm stockand 1.1 million sharesx of preferred stock. "The currentt management team inheriteda $2.
4 billion debt load that cannot be sustained, particularly in these challenging financiak markets," said Mark Shapiro, presidenr and CEO of Six Flags, in a "As a result, we are cleaning up the past and positionintg the company for future growth ... Following a record year of performancsein 2008, which completed the three-year turnaround of our system-wided park operation, this action to clean up the balance sheet pavesx the way for a full revivapl of the company," Shapiro said. Elitcj Gardens had operated for more than a centuru at a northwestDenveer site. The old Elitch Gardens shut down in and a new version of the amusementy park opened a year later indowntown Denver.
The local Gurtler family and its financial partners sold the new park to PremierfParks Inc. in 1996 for $65 million. It becamw Six Flags Elitch Gardens twoyears later, when Premieer acquired Six Flags Inc. and changede its corporate name toSix Flags. Six Flagws sold off Elitch's and other properties in 2007 in a seriea of transactions that left the Denver attractionb in the hands of CNL IncomePropertiex Inc., a real estat investment trust based in Orlando, Fla. CNL reportedly paid $312 million for the properties. CNL arrangeed for Parc Management LLC of Florida tomanagr Elitch's. Six Flags now operates aboutr 20 North Americanamusement parks.