Financial difficulties forced the owner of artifacts from the RMS Titanic to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions two weeks ago.
However, according to a case document filed last week, all of the company’s problems could be solved if it’s allowed to sell just a handful of its 5,500 Titanic artifacts.
Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. and several subsidiaries, including RMS Titanic Inc., filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville on June 14. The company owns exclusive rights to recover artifacts from the wreck of the Titanic.
“The Debtors believe that a limited sale of artifacts (perhaps as few ten to twenty) from the French Collection would generate enough revenue to pay all of the Debtors’ creditors in full, return all of the equity to the Debtors’ shareholders and provide working capital for the Debtors as they emerge from bankruptcy,” RMS Titanic Inc. said in the court filing last Monday.
The French Collection consists of about 2,100 artifacts first recovered by the company in 1987 during a salvage mission in conjunction with the French government’s oceanographic institute.
The remainder of its collection was salvaged in expeditions that began in 1993.
The combined collection of 5,500 artifacts has an estimated market value of $218 million, according to a 2014 appraisal included in the filing.
The court filing was a motion seeking to sell that limited number of artifacts. Premier has been severely restricted from selling its artifacts, in the interests of preserving history, by a U.S. federal court decision and by French authorities.
However, Premier is arguing that a limited sale would be in the best interest of all stakeholders.
“The Debtors regret the Debtors’ current financial circumstances, but welcome the opportunity to make every creditor whole, while preserving the investments of the shareholders, and providing the Debtors a fresh start going forward with 99.5 percent of the French Collection intact,” the filing said.
Premier owes creditors about $12 million in unsecured debts.
Premier is a publicly traded company that, in addition to Titanic-related activities, also produces exhibitions for other ventures.
Its financial problems were caused in part by a failed Saturday Night Live exhibition in New York that was “incredibly unprofitable” and closed down June 5, according to court documents.
While Premier is headquartered in Atlanta, it filed its Chapter 11 case in Jacksonville because the company and some of its subsidiaries are incorporated in Florida.
Jacksonville attorney Daniel Blanks of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough filed the Chapter 11 petitions.
Because it has not been allowed to sell Titanic artifacts and couldn’t put an actual value on them, an early court filing in the Chapter 11 case put the “estimated unappraised value” at just $18 million.
However, last week’s filing indicated the value would be quite a lot higher if the artifacts were brought to market.
“There exists a fertile market for the sale of Titanic-related artifacts and memorabilia saved by survivors of the tragedy, or culled from the surface waters by rescuers,” it said.
“For example, a cracker from the ship sold for $23,000 last year. In 2013, a violin from a crew member sold for $1,454,400 at auction. In 2012, two menus sold for $140,000,” it said.
Obviously, that would mean there would likely be a strong interest in Premier’s artifacts and the company says that would help everyone if the court approves the limited sale.
“Indeed, in the context of a Chapter 11 filing, this is a uniquely beneficial opportunity,” it said.
Convergys cutting 163 Jacksonville jobs
A week after holding a nationwide job fair to fill 12,000 positions, Convergys Corp. last week filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice saying it will cut 163 jobs at its Jacksonville customer service center at 8000 Baymeadows Way.
Convergys, which provides outsourced customer service for businesses, said in the notice filed Tuesday the affected jobs are part of a program for AT&T.
Spokeswoman Brooke Beiting said by email the cuts are “a business decision made by Convergys and the client to best support the evolving needs of the client. We are actively working to transfer affected agents to other programs supported out of the Jacksonville contact center.”
The previous week, Convergys held a one-day open house at all 46 of its call centers in the U.S. and Canada to fill 12,000 customer service and tech support positions this summer.
Cincinnati-based Convergys has about 130,000 employees working in 31 countries.
Convergys will still have more than 1,200 employees in Jacksonville after the cuts, which are scheduled to take place by Aug. 12.
The customer service operation in Jacksonville actually originated as a part of AT&T.
AT&T American Transtech opened in 1983 to handle shareholder services for the court-ordered breakup of AT&T. It eventually expanded to provide services for other companies and was sold to Cincinnati Bell Inc. in 1998.
Cincinnati Bell merged the Transtech business with its own customer service subsidiary and later in 1998, it spun off Convergys as a separate public company.
Black Knight makes another acquisition
Jacksonville-based Black Knight Financial Services Inc. last week said it acquired Motivity Solutions, a Colorado-based provider of customized mortgage business intelligence analytics.
Black Knight, which provides technology and analytics services for mortgage lenders, was spun off from Fidelity National Financial Inc. a year ago.
Nearly two-thirds of all U.S. home mortgage loans are processed through Black Knight’s systems.
“This acquisition of Motivity Solutions further demonstrates our drive to accelerate our growth and deliver the additional capabilities our customers want,” Black Knight CEO Tom Sanzone said in a news release.
The company in May made its first acquisition since the spinoff, buying a document management company called eLynx for $115 million.
Financial details of the Motivity deal were not disclosed.
Mall owner CEO resigns
Amid rumors the company is up for sale, the CEO of mall operator WP Glimcher Inc. resigned last week.
Michael Glimcher resigned from the company that operates 118 shopping centers, including the Orange Park Mall.
Louis Conforti, a director of the company, was named interim CEO to replace Glimcher.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company also announced it intends to change its name back to Washington Prime Group Inc.
Washington Prime Group was originally formed two years ago as a spinoff from Simon Property Group Inc., consisting of a portfolio of smaller enclosed malls and strip shopping centers.
It agreed to merge with Glimcher Realty Trust three months later to form WP Glimcher.
With investors perhaps looking at WP Glimcher as a company with malls that Simon didn’t want, its stock hasn’t done well, dropping from a high of $21.49 when it was spun off in May 2014 to below $10 last month.
The stock inched up in recent weeks on rumors it was considering a merger, but the company announced two weeks ago it was not engaged in any negotiations for a deal.
The company’s announcement last week did not give a reason for the resignation of Glimcher or the name change.
The Orange Park Mall is doing well, according to WP Glimcher’s annual report. The 959,405-square-foot mall was 96.4 percent leased, it said.
WP Glimcher also owns the 163,259-square-foot Westland Park Plaza in Orange Park that was 75.6 percent leased.
Aetna-Humana deal gets California OK
While Aetna Inc. waits to see if the federal government will sign off on its proposed $37 billion acquisition of Humana Inc., it did get a significant state approval last week.
The California Department of Managed Health Care said it approved the deal, with Aetna agreeing to several conditions to control costs and increase access to health care in the state.
The conditions include $49.5 million in investments in certain health care programs in California.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved the deal in February.
While Aetna has received most of the state approvals it needs, many major financial news outlets have been reporting the U.S. Justice Department is raising antitrust concerns about lessening competition in the health insurance market.
In addition to the Aetna-Humana deal, Anthem Inc. is trying to buy Cigna Corp.
Aetna is hoping to complete its deal in the second half of this year.
Credit unions complete merger
Two Jacksonville-based credit unions last week announced completion of their merger, as Florida Baptist Credit Union was merged into First Florida Credit Union.
The merged First Florida now has 55,000 members and more than $740 million in assets.
The credit union is open to anyone who lives or works in 26 Florida counties, including the five-county Jacksonville metropolitan area.
Membership is also available to certain employer groups, including the state of Florida and CSX Transportation, and members of Southern Baptist churches in Florida.