Zell to bankruptcy court: If lower creditors get money back, I want mine

Tribune Company Chairman Sam Zell is demanding his share of repayment in the media company's bankruptcy if lower-priority creditors, emboldened by a recently released examiner's report, get anything.

EGI-TRB LLC, the company that the real estate mogul created to invest $315 million in debt and equity in the 2007 Tribune leveraged buyout, filed a conditional objection to the current plan of reorganization this week, saying it expects its debt claims to be repaid if creditors whose trustee is Wilmington Trust Co. get any payment. The Wilmington creditors have about $1 billion in claims known as the "phones" notes. EGI-TRB is slated to get nothing under the proposed reorganization plan currently on file in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. But that plan is now in flux in the wake of a bankruptcy examiner's report buttressing Wilmington creditors' allegations against Tribune lenders that Mr. Zell's deal left the company insolvent. Tribune attorneys have said that changes to the plan are likely.