Silicon Graphics Files Chap. 11

Silicon Graphics Files
For Chapter 11 Protection
A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP
May 8, 2006 9:32 a.m.

Silicon Graphics Inc., a long-struggling maker of high-performance computers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

A group of bondholders agreed to trade their debt for a stake in the company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Silicon Graphics is known for desktop workstations and larger server systems that are favored by engineers and others who demand sophisticated graphics, including Hollywood studios. But the company has suffered a long slide, partly due to competition from machines based on standard components used in personal computers.

The Mountain View, Calif., company, which employs more than 1,800 people world-wide, listed assets of $369.4 million and debt of $664.3 million in its bankruptcy filing. Earlier this year, Silicon Graphics replaced its top executive amid widening losses and lower revenue. It posted a $76 million net loss on sales of $730 million in 2005.

Under the broad outlines of the debt-for-equity plan, holders of Silicon Graphics' 6.5% and 11.75% secured notes due 2009 will swap their claims for a 25% stake in the reorganized company. The bondholders, who are owed about $191 million, will also receive the right to buy the remaining 75% of new shares in the reorganized Silicon Graphics.

The bondholders will also provide Silicon Graphics with $70 million in debtor-in-possession, or DIP, financing and will backstop a $50 million rights offering. A group of subordinated bondholders, owed $56.8 million, will receive nothing under the proposed plan.

Silicon Graphics' stock was recently delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for trading below a minimum threshold of $1 a share, and now trades on the small-cap OTC Bulletin Board.

On Monday, the company said its fiscal third-quarter loss narrowed to $42.7 million, or 16 cents a share, from $44.5 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $108.1 million from last year's $159.2 million.