One year after Chairman William Agee was ousted from Morrison Knudsen Corp., the Boise-based company's finances are so shredded that its survival beyond Sept. 30 is doubtful.
The company itself recently told federal regulators "conditions that raise substantial doubt about the corporation's ability to continue as a going concern."Former MK managers are describing an apparently failing effort to save an 84-year-old company up to the challenge of building Hoover and Grand Coulee dams.
MK on Thursday disclosed several New York-based investors had bought from the original lenders most of the $231 million in loans that comprise MK's staggering debt load.
Whether these investors - who buy loans from distressed companies - will allow MK's restructuring to continue remains to be seen.
MK spokesman Brent Brandon said, "I can confirm that our debt has traded through a group that appears to have the long-term interest of MK as an ongoing franchise."
But Jack Lemley, a former MK senior vice president, said, "If the lending institutions are selling, it would suggest they have no confidence in getting their investment back."