Marvel Reaches Tentative Deal With Lenders

Marvel Entertainment Group has reached a tentative agreement with its bank lenders that includes the purchase of $710 million of its bank debt by two Marvel bondholders.

Under the proposal, High River and Westgate International would pay secured lenders $385 million in cash for the banks’ claims on loans made to the comic book publisher.

The lenders would get proceeds from the sale of Marvel’s Panini unit, the world’s largest maker of collectible stickers, negotiators told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Helen Balick on Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. Balick gave them until noon today to put the deal in writing.

The proposal came as New York-based Marvel was preparing to seek court approval of alternative solutions to its reorganization, including Chapter 7 liquidation or dismissal of the case, which would let lenders foreclose on collateral backing up loans in state courts. A formal agreement would end the threat of such drastic action. Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last year.