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

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The board of Six Flags (OTCBB: voted last week to begin reorganizationm proceedingsin U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Districrof Delaware. The company listesd assets of $3.03 billion and debts of $2.36 billio in its filing. Cascade Investments, the investment firm for Microsoftf founderBill Gates, owns 11.1 perceny of the voting securities in New York-based Six Flags, the largestf share, bankruptcy documents show. Six Flages has 97.7 million shares of commob stockand 1.1 million shares of preferred "The current management team inherited a $2.
4 billiom debt load that cannot be sustained, particularly in these challenging financial markets," said Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of Six in a statement. "As a result, we are cleaning up the past and positioninyg the company for futurgrowth ... Following a record year of performance in which completedthe three-year turnaround of our system-wide park operation, this action to clean up the balanc sheet paves the way for a full revivalk of the company," Shapiro Elitch Gardens had operated for more than a century at a northwest Denver site. The old Elitch Gardenz shut down in and a new version of the amusement park opener a year later indowntowjn Denver.
The local Gurtler family and its financiaol partners sold the new park to Premier Parks Inc. in 1996 for $65 It became Six Flags Elitch Gardens twoyearsd later, when Premier acquired Six Flags Inc. and changedd its corporate name toSix Flags. Six Flagw sold off Elitch's and other propertiexs in 2007 in a seriees of transactions that left the Denver attraction in the hands of CNL IncomeeProperties Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Orlando, Fla. CNL reportedlty paid $312 million for the properties. CNL arrangede for Parc Management LLC of Florida tomanage Elitch's. Six Flagd now operates about 20 Northj Americanamusement parks.