Icahn-Financed Group Boosts Offer for TWA

The group financed by former Trans World Airlines Inc. Chairman Carl Icahn sweetened its reorganization offer for bankrupt TWA, in hopes of winning a judge’s approval for the plan over TWA’s planned sale to AMR Corp. The group said the new offer adds $480 million in financing over its earlier bid, giving it more than $1.1 billion in financing commitments. Brian Freeman, the investment banker who heads the group, said the plan includes “substantially” more money to pay the creditors of TWA than the AMR plan. AMR, parent of American Airlines, raised its buyout offer Wednesday to $742 million from $500 million, adding money to cover all the secured creditors. The group hopes U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh, in a hearing today in Wilmington, Del., will endorse its proposal, allow it to replace American’s loans to TWA with its own loans and begin negotiating a reorganization plan with TWA and its creditors. If the judge rejects the group’s plan in favor of the American offer, the merger would still require Justice Department approval. AMR shares rose $1.70 to close at $36.70 on the NYSE.