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Savio will sell
properties to
ease deficit
Sell-off unlikely to pay off
all bankruptcy creditorsSavio Development Co. owes over
By Peter Wagner
$41 million to banks and
other creditors
Star-BulletinHawaii developer Peter Savio hopes to raise more than $36 million for creditors in his company's bankruptcy by selling personal property and real estate holdings.
But the sell-off, which could take a year and would decimate Savio Development Co., will probably fall short of paying off his debts and would leave smaller creditors out in the cold, he said.
"If I had my way, I'd pay everybody," Savio told a handful of his creditors gathered yesterday at a meeting with a bankruptcy trustee.
The meeting came just hours after Savio Development filed details of the company's assets and liabilities in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Savio Development on Jan. 24 filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code, allowing the company to continue operating while laying plans to repay creditors and reorganize.
Yesterday's filings show Savio Development with assets of $36,472,210 and $41,366,506 in debts -- some $40,606,055 owed to lending institutions and other "secured" creditors. Savio said he did not know how much the sale of his unencumbered property will raise, but anticipated it will fall short of claims by top-priority parties.
Largest of these creditors is American Savings Bank, with a claim of $15,538,017. Next is First Hawaiian Bank with $8,709,406 outstanding, according to the new filings. All together, Savio owes $36,651,354 to lending institutions.
Apparently left to fend for themselves are "unsecured" creditors without collateral whose claims total $760,451.
The biggest of them, Big Island firm B&B Construction, claims to be out $657,000 over the Kaumana II subdivision in Hilo, which Savio allegedly orchestrated.
Savio, president of Savio Development, said the company became overextended in making personal loans to scores of first-time home buyers.
Savio yesterday said he plans to continue operating Savio Development whatever the outcome of the bankruptcy.
"I started this business with $1,000," he said of the 19-year-old company. "If that's all that's left over after this, I'll start it all over again."
