Santa Fe subsidiaries’ disclosures approved

Thursday, Sept. 2, 1999 | 11:40 a.m.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has approved a joint disclosure statement filed by two subsidiaries of Santa Fe Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas.

Judge Linda Riegle approved the statement filed with the reorganization plans of Pioneer Finance Corp. and Pioneer Hotel Inc. Both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the wake of Pioneer Finance's failure to make a $60 million balloon payment on junk bonds issued in 1988.

Pioneer Finance filed for bankruptcy protection in February, followed by sister company Pioneer Hotel Inc. in April. Pioneer Finance wants to exchange the bonds for new bonds due in 2006.

Santa Fe owns the Santa Fe hotel-casino in northwest Las Vegas, the Pioneer hotel-casino in Laughlin, Las Vegas Strip property it leases to the Wet 'n Wild water theme park and property near the Galleria at Sunset mall it plans to develop as a hotel-casino.

The joint disclosure was filed June 4 after about 75 percent of the bondholders consented to a reorganization plan. Riegle set an Oct. 25 hearing date on the joint reorganization proposal.

Riegle also rejected an involuntary bankruptcy petition filed in January by Hudson Bay Partners LLC, a New York-based investment company.

Hudson Bay, owner of 33.2 percent of Santa Fe Gaming Corp.'s preferred stock, attempted to force Santa Fe into bankruptcy in a bid to take over the company.

Riegle said in March that she would reject the involuntary bankruptcy pending assurances from Santa Fe shareholders they would not move to block future civil suits.