Bankrupt Comdisco files reorganization plan

ROSEMONT: Bankrupt technology and finance firm Comdisco Inc. on Friday said

it plans to cut 180 jobs, or 20 percent of its workforce, named Ronald Mishler

president and chief operating officer and still hopes to emerge from Chapter 11

bankruptcy late this summer.

Misher, 41, who had been chief financial officer, will report to Norman

Blake, chairman and chief executive. He will retain responsibility for

Comdisco's finance and accounting areas, the company said.

Comdisco also said it filed a reorganization plan with the United States

Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. All of Comdisco's US

subsidiaries are included in the plan, along with 15 direct and indirect

subsidiaries and Prism Communications Services Inc., as well as another 34 of

its direct and indirect subsidiaries.

If the plan is approved, Comdisco said it estimates it will make an initial

cash distribution of about $2 billion, funded by cash on hand from asset sales

and cash flow from operations. The ultimate recovery to unsecured creditors will

be about 87 percent of their claims, Comdisco said.

On April 4, Comdisco said it would sell its US medical equipment unit to GE

Capital for $165 million, a transaction that was subsequently approved on April

18 by bankruptcy court. Comdisco filed for bankruptcy in July 2001.