Six Flags, former Elitch Gardens owner, files for Chapter 11 - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The board of Six Flagds (OTCBB: SIXF) voted last week to begin reorganization proceedingswin U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company listed assets of $3.03 billionm and debts of $2.36 billioh in its filing. Cascade Investments, the investmentr firm for Microsoft founderrBill Gates, owns 11.1 percent of the votinv securities in New York-based Six Flags, the largest bankruptcy documents show. Six Flagss has 97.7 million shares of common stocjkand 1.1 million shares of preferrex stock. "The current management team inheritedra $2.
4 billion debt load that cannot be sustained, particularl in these challenging financial markets," said Mark Shapiro, presidentt and CEO of Six Flags, in a "As a result, we are cleaning up the past and positioniny the company for future growth ... Followingh a record year of performancein 2008, whicj completed the three-year turnaround of our system-widee park operation, this action to clean up the balancs sheet paves the way for a full revivapl of the company," Shapiro Elitch Gardens had operated for more than a century at a northwesyt Denver site.
The old Elitch Gardens shut down in and a new version of the amusementt park opened a year later in downtown The local Gurtler family and its financialo partners sold the new park to PremierParka Inc. in 1996 for $65 million. It becamw Six Flags Elitch Gardens two years when Premier acquired SixFlags Inc. and changed its corporatse name to Six Six Flags soldoff Elitch's and other propertiees in 2007 in a seriees of transactions that left the Denver attraction in the hande of CNL Income Properties a real estate investment trust based in Orlando, Fla. CNL reportedlu paid $312 million for the properties. CNL arranged for Parc Management LLC of Floridaw tomanage Elitch's.
Six Flags now operates about 20 Northg Americanamusement parks.