To: xcr600 who wrote (9284 ) 3/7/2003 12:53:15 PM From: RockyBalboa Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 10293 Oh. I have occasionally debookmarked Bill Wexlers thread and missed all the fun. Meanwhile, REFR heading lower. On another note an old fav dog STMI filed Bankruptcy. It looks like self dealing, which appears to usual practise in the orient. Troubled STM Wireless Gets Cash for Payroll WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2003 03:54 AM IRVINE, Calif., Feb 26, 2003 (The Orange County Register - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- STM Wireless Inc., the satellite-phone company that last week filed for bankruptcy protection, on Monday won court approval to accept $400,000 in short-term financing so it could make payroll payments that it missed Friday. The financially troubled company, which has been seeking a buyer since 1999, has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California for approval of its sale to Sloan Capital Partners for approximately $2 million in cash and assumption of another $2 million in debt. The court on Monday said it will consider that request at a hearing on March 7. The judge also said he will consider other bids for the assets of STM, according to Marc Winthrop, the Newport Beach attorney who is representing STM. STM makes satellite communications equipment known as Very Small Aperature Terminals, or VSATs. Using that equipment, the company is able to place a phone booth in the middle of a desert or jungle, powered by a solar panel and linked to a global phone network through a satellite antenna. It sells almost all of its products in developing nations to large phone companies and banks that install the VSATs for phones in remote villages or establish communications with branch offices. STM told the court it has held extensive discussions with all of its competitors, seeking a purchaser. The only bidder was Sloan, which is managed by Farhad Youssefzadeh, the brother-in-law and "distant relative" of STM Chief Executive Emil Youssefzadeh. Winthrop said in a filing with the court that the relationship between the two Youssefzadehs didn't create a conflict of interest. "The sales transaction was negotiated at arms-length and is fair and reasonable, particularly given the debtor's financial condition and lack of interest by industry players," Winthrop said in a petition to the court. STM attributed its financial problems to the global economic slowdown, which has had a severe impact on the telecommunications industry. STM shares closed Tuesday trading at about 3 cents after falling as low as 2 cents. That's down from a 52-week high of $2.49 last March. By Jim Finkle