USA: Pittsburgh Brewing is close to getting financing so it can continue to brew beer

The bankrupt brewery of Iron City and IC Light said Thursday it is close to getting financing so it can continue to brew beer in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published December 1.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. President Joseph R. Piccirilli said Thursday after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing that the company is finalizing a deal with investors willing to put sufficient funds into the 145-year-old brewery so that it can modernize the plant and market the brands. The deal will keep him in charge, but "with some minor refinements," which he would not specify.

Piccirilli, who bought the brewery in the Pittsburgh bankruptcy court in 1995 and owns a 44 percent stake, declined to say how much capital the company will receive, but said it will be more than the $7 million proposed in a financial reorganization plan filed in mid-October.

"We're raising more than we need. This will let me do what I need to do" to make the company a success, Piccirilli said.

Neither Piccirilli nor his attorney, Robert O. Lampl, would identify the investors. They were identified only as Northeast investors who have dealt with the company's court-appointed financial advisers, Chatsworth Securities LLC of Stamford, Conn.

Lee M. Gerkin, managing director of Chatsworth Securities, could not be reached for comment. Robert D. Albergotti, a Dallas attorney identified in court as the investor's lawyer, also could not be reached.

"We have the elements of a confirmable plan," but it needs to be refined, Lampl told Judge M. Bruce McCullough. The brewery intends to file a revised financial disclosure statement by Dec. 20, and hopes to have the reorganization plan approved by the creditors by mid-February.

The creditors committee has met with the investors, and "all (the creditors) agreed we ought to pursue this course," Robert Sable, the committee's attorney, told the judge.

"This looks like it has the chance to work," Sable said. The investors have the financial ability and necessary experience and the creditors believe they can reach an agreement with them, Sable said.

One possible hitch, however, is that the prospective investors want Jack P. Cerone, a Chicago-area attorney who owns 20 percent of the company, to permit their claims on company property to be placed ahead of his. The brewery proposed in its unapproved reorganization plan that Cerone would get 40 percent ownership of the company and retain his payment rights and interest in the brewery if he approved the deal.

Attorney Donald Calaiaro, who represents Cerone, said he had not seen the proposed agreement and could not comment.

The prospective investors agreed to give Pittsburgh Brewing interim financing so it does not need to seek approval of a $500,000 line of credit from Craig E. Newbold, an East Liverpool, Ohio, businessman, Lampl said.

The brewery intends to file a revised financing plan today, one that will show Pittsburgh Brewing operated by a new company, Piccirilli said. It will not reveal the investors, he added.

Pittsburgh Brewing filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 7 after the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority had threatened to shut off its water supply over delinquent bills.

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