Tweeter gets court OK for $20m liquidation loan

Tweeter Opco LLC won interim court permission to borrow $20 million to fund its liquidation, 15 months after the 94-store electronics chain was bought out of bankruptcy by Schultze Asset Management LLC for $38 million. The company filed for bankruptcy Nov. 5 in Wilmington, Del., the second time it sought protection from creditors in 17 months. Tweeter, based in Canton, estimated it would sell $45.4 million worth of merchandise during the eight-week-long liquidation, according to court papers. That estimate may change because of going-out of business sales at Circuit City Stores Inc., which said last month it might close at least 150 stores to avoid bankruptcy, Tweeter chief restructuring officer Craig Boucher said. (Bloomberg)

Amgen Inc. said it hopes to begin selling its osteoporosis drug denosumab next year, fueling growth as the decline in revenue from its top-selling anemia treatments "bottoms out." The company plans to file by year-end or early 2009 for FDA approval. Studies last year linked high doses of the anemia medicines Aranesp and Epogen to heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. Denosumab has the potential to generate $1.4 billion in 2013, said Eric Schmidt, an analyst with Cowen & Co., in a Nov. 4 note. (Bloomberg)

Apple Inc.'s new executive in charge of the iPod and iPhone devices must stop work immediately because he might have violated an agreement with his former employer, IBM, a judge ruled. Mark Papermaster, left for Apple last month. IBM sued him, saying the move violated an employment contract in which he agreed not to work for a competitor within a year of leaving his job. The executive "will immediately cease his employment with Apple Inc. until further order of this court," US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, N.Y., said in a written order. (Bloomberg)

Franklin Bank Corp., the Houston bank controlled by Lewis Ranieri, was closed by regulators, the 18th US bank seized this year amid mounting real estate losses and slumping home sales. Franklin Bank, with $5.1 billion in assets and $3.7 billion in deposits, was shut by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Closely held Prosperity Bank acquired all deposits, the FDIC said. The failed bank's 46 offices will open as branches of Prosperity, the FDIC said. Ranieri, 61, who helped create the market for mortgage securities in the 1980s, becomes a victim of the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. (Bloomberg)

Workers at Irish airline Aer Lingus voted to authorize a strike to fight layoffs coming this month, potentially causing massive disruption to travel. The carrier has launched a program aimed at cutting over 1,200 jobs and outsourcing them to third parties, leading trade union SIPTU to hold a strike vote. It is not guaranteed that the strike will take place. "We regret the disruption to the public that will almost certainly begin before Dec. 1 and I want to stress that we remain open to enter a talks process to resolve this dispute with management," SIPTU industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said. Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion told staff this week the airline's $94.68 million cost-cutting program was "unstoppable and irreversible," suggesting he is unlikely to back down. (Reuters)