WEIRTON STEEL Bondholders seek delay of company's sale to ISG Inc.

The objection says ISG is buying Weirton Steel at a fire-sale price.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A group of bondholders seeking to recover losses from Weirton Steel Corp. has filed a motion to delay the sale of the bankrupt steelmaker to Ohio's International Steel Group Inc.
The Informal Committee of Secured Noteholders, collectively owed $118 million, objected to the $255 million deal with ISG, arguing the shortened time line would make it difficult for other potential buyers to submit a bid. The group also challenged the propriety of a "breakup fee" that another company would have to pay for outbidding ISG.
Last month, federal bankruptcy Judge L. Edward Friend II set a Tuesday deadline to receive competing bids and required offers to be at least $6.24 million more than ISG's, or a minimum bid of $261 million.
An auction has been scheduled for next Monday in Pittsburgh, followed by a hearing in Wheeling to finalize the sale April 14. The group has said ISG's bid, which includes cash and the assumption of various liabilities, undervalues the West Virginia mill.
Want time for counteroffer
Late Friday, the creditors filed a motion seeking to delay the deadline for up to three weeks to allow the committee more time to submit a counteroffer, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wheeling. The group also hopes to complete its work on a separate plan of reorganization that "provides significantly higher recoveries to the holders of the obligations and unsecured creditors."
"This valuation level is so low that it constitutes a fire sale," the court papers said. "To permit the debtors to sell substantially all of their assets in a fire sale when they have ample liquidity would be a drastic result that clearly would not constitute a fair and equitable distribution to creditors."
The bondholders also argued that Weirton Steel is not the same company teetering on the edge of collapse it was a month ago because a worldwide shortage of coke, an essential fuel in the manufacture of tin-plated steel, has improved.
"The debtor's operations are currently generating positive cash flow that has significantly increased," court records state.
Company spokesman Gregg Warren told the Weirton Daily Times that the delay request was expected.
Union objections
The 3,000-member Independent Steelworkers Union released a statement Sunday objecting to any delay.
"Not only have the Noteholders failed to advance a bid to purchase the assets of Weirton Steel, but they have also failed to adequately address the union's concerns," ISU attorney Rob D'Anniballe said Sunday in a news release.
Union leadership has acknowledged there could be conflict between what the union and the bondholders hope to achieve from a sale. While the union's interest is in protecting jobs, the creditors want to get the maximum dollar from the estate.
Weirton, the nation's No. 2 producer of tin-plated steel, sought Chapter 11 protection in May 2003, and had struggled to emerge. ISG would become the nation's largest integrated steelmaker if the Weirton deal goes through.
The union already has signed a five-year pact with ISG that is modeled after contracts the steelmaker has struck with the United Steelworkers of America at its other mills.
The contract would save about 2,000 jobs in Weirton and is packed with incentives, including bonuses and quarterly profit-sharing. Starting wages would range from $14 to $19.50 per hour, with raises 12, 30 and 46 months into the contract.