photo credit: Jeroen Onstenk

Apple has invited a selected group of journalists to a 27 January event where they will launch at least one new product. According to Wired:

Apple has sent out press invitations for a product event to be held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater.

The invitation reads, “Come see our latest creation.” The event is scheduled to begin 10 a.m., Jan. 27.

Rumour concerning the product they intend to launch has been rife. However, now that the event is confirmed, it seems foolish to ignore some of the more credible stories. The Wall Street Journal reports today that:

HarperCollins Publishers is negotiating with Apple Inc. to make electronic books available for the introduction of a new tablet device from Apple, according to people familiar with the situation, posing a challenge to Amazon.com Inc.

HarperCollins is expected to set the prices of the e-books, which would have added features, with Apple taking a percentage of sales. Details haven’t been ironed out.

Following some very positive coverage in the Irish Times last week, Barry O’Callaghan was given a less pleasing covering by the Sunday Independent:

BARRY O’Callaghan bet the ranch and lost big time. The Clongowes-educated financier was briefly worth “well north of a billion” before he was 40. Ever so briefly. Now with the implosion of his debt-laden publishing firm EMPG he is back to being an ordinary wage slave.

In another story, the Sunday Independent also covered the well-known Irish people who have been hurt financially by the crisis at EMPG:

Superquinn founder Feargal Quinn is thought to have invested up to €16m in Barry O’Callaghan’s EMPG publishers, which was involved in crisis talks over its €8bn debt mountain last week. Mr Quinn, who banked up to €400m from the sale of his Superquinn empire to property developers at the peak of the boom, is understood to have been one of the largest Irish investors in Mr O’Callaghan’s publishing outfit.

UPDATED: LINKS FOR FRIDAY 15th JANUARY 2010

Barry O’Callaghan (CEO of EMPG) spoke on Morning Ireland this morning. The Audio is at the end of the RTÉ article.

Wednesday saw the news leak out slowly and some of the media outlets you might have expected to report in Educational Media Publishing Group‘s troubles didn’t.

This morning most of them seem to have made up for that. What is clear is that the massive debts are to be restructured leaving a group of Irish investors seriously out of pocket.

In a radio interview on RTÉ on Thursday 14th January Barry O’Callaghan confirmed that the group was restructuring and that there would be a loss of value in the order of SEVERAL BILLION. He was personally losing several hundred million.

I’ve updated this list of stories with the newest links:

The Irish Times -1 -:

BARRY O’CALLAGHAN, the chief executive of Education Media and Publishing Group (EMPG), has told The Irish Times that he is not “broke” and he will honour every financial commitment on his investments, including the millions of euro owed to Anglo Irish Bank in relation to his equity stake in the educational publisher.

The Irish Times – 2- :

In a telephone interview with The Irish Times yesterday, O’Callaghan said this is “unfortunate” but the global economic meltdown of the past 18 months changed the rules of the game.

“I’m taking the brunt on that more than anyone else and it slightly bemuses me that I’m being positioned as the bad guy,” he said. “It’s just bad luck for me and my fellow shareholders. It’s nothing different from the people who bought houses [in the boom].”

Daily Finance:

Indeed, HMH may emerge from this debt-ridden mess with its heart still beating, ready to conduct business as usual. (In keeping with this motif, O’Callaghan will stay on as the head of the restructured company.) But O’Callaghan and CFO Michael Muldowney’s plea to company employees not to “allow yourselves to become distracted by speculation or rumors in the marketplace” doesn’t look to be heeded anytime soon — especially if the restructuring plan fails to stem the bleeding debt after all.

Publishing Perspectives:

O’Callaghan, who was once deemed the youngest billionaire in Ireland, told the Irish Times on Friday that he would repay much of his debt and would not fire any of the 300 people employed in Dublin. What’s perhaps even more surprising, he promised to go ahead with a commitment to create another 450 jobs at the company’s Irish headquarters.

The Financial Times:

The educational publisher, which competes with Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, is hoping to avoid a bankruptcy process by getting a consensual agreement in the next two or three weeks to cut total debt from about $7bn to just under $3bn.

The proposal would convert about half of EMPG’s $5bn in first lien debt and all of the $2bn second lien loans to equity, according to two people familiar with its terms. Second lien lenders have yet to approve terms which could give first lien lenders about 90 per cent of the equity.

Irish Independent – 1- :

EMPG’s €350m R&D centre in Dublin, announced to huge fanfare by Tanaiste Mary Coughlan in September 2008, will not be affected as the publishing giant restructures it finances, the company insisted last night.

It is understood that 200 people work in the Dublin city centre office, with plans to hike the overall figure to 450 over the next four years.

“The R&D centre is not affected by the refinancing,” said one source. “In fact, the project is currently delivering ahead of schedule.”

Irish Independent – 2-:

EMPG has been moving closer and closer to the edge of painful restructuring for some time. Headroom on its loan covenants has been getting tighter.

It is understood the company was in danger of missing a bond payment this week, but forbearance has been extended by its creditors until the end of the month.

This should give the company some badly needed breathing space in order to get a deal over the line.

The Irish Times:

This will change the shareholder structure and could leave Irish private investors, who between them currently control 5.5 per cent of EMPG, owning little or nothing of the business.

The Irish investors have put more than $475 million into the company in the past four years through Dublin-based stockbroker Davy. An informed source said yesterday that the investors would be left with a “minimal” stake.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) is in discussions about a financial restructuring that could see the business taken over by its bankers, according to reports from Ireland.

In August last year the company restructured in order to reduce its $7bn (£4.3m) in debts, a move that saw its founder Barry O’Callaghan’s equity stake diluted.

Wall Street Journal (Reg Required):

Irish-American educational software publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.’s U.S.-based holding company said Wednesday it will undergo a “comprehensive balance sheet restructuring.”

The holding company–the U.S.-based Education Media & Publishing Group–said: “We and our financial and legal advisors are in advanced discussions with the company’s debt holders regarding potential alternatives that would result in a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring to put the company on a stronger financial footing.”

Publisher Lunch – 1 - (Reg Required):

Two debt restructurings last year still left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) straining to sustain their debt obligations and covenants, and reports from Ireland indicate yet another restructuring is in the works that would wipe out equity-holders entirely and turn the company over to its secured lenders.

Publisher Lunch – 2 - (Reg Required):

“Moreover, certain of our lenders have committed to make substantial new investments in the company in connection with this restructuring. Significantly, the plan will enhance liquidity and the company expects to have over $600M of new working capital to support growth initiatives.”

The Irish Independent:

Education Media & Publishing Group, the parent company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said it is in discussions with its debt holders aimed at a “comprehensive” financial restructuring.

EMPG is holding talks to put it on a “stronger financial footing,” it said today in an e-mailed statement.

“These developments have no adverse effect on our day-to- day operations, on our employees, or on the nature and quality of the services we provide to our customers and business partners,” it said in the statement.

UPDATE: For more links and discussion, see the Morning Update post!

Education Media Publishing Group, owner of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is in financial restructuring talks that could see shareholders lose most of their equity according to RTÉ.ie and an Fine Gael (An Irish Opposition Party) Spokesperson, George Lee:

Educational media company EMPG, formerly Riverdeep, has confirmed it is in discussions which will result in ‘comprehensive’ financial restructuring.

Fine Gael said it appears that Irish shareholders will lose all of their investments as a result. ‘Many of these investors were funded through large loans from Anglo Irish Bank, which is now wholly owned by Irish taxpayers’, Fine Gael’s George Lee stated.

RTE News understands stockbroking company Davy has been in touch with a number of investors informing them that their equity has been wiped out.

RTÉ also got a quote from the company:

‘These developments have no adverse effect on our day-to-day operations, on our employees, or on the nature and quality of the service we provide to our customers and business partners,’ the statement said.

FOR MORE
The Bookseller:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) is in discussions about a financial restructuring that could see the business taken over by its bankers, according to reports from Ireland.

In August last year the company restructured in order to reduce its $7bn (£4.3m) in debts, a move that saw its founder Barry O’Callaghan’s equity stake diluted.

Wall Street Journal (Reg Required):

Irish-American educational software publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.’s U.S.-based holding company said Wednesday it will undergo a “comprehensive balance sheet restructuring.”

The holding company–the U.S.-based Education Media & Publishing Group–said: “We and our financial and legal advisors are in advanced discussions with the company’s debt holders regarding potential alternatives that would result in a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring to put the company on a stronger financial footing.”

Publisher Lunch – 1 - (Reg Required):

Two debt restructurings last year still left Houghton Mifflin Harcourt parent company Education and Media Publishing Group (EMPG) straining to sustain their debt obligations and covenants, and reports from Ireland indicate yet another restructuring is in the works that would wipe out equity-holders entirely and turn the company over to its secured lenders.

Publisher Lunch – 2 - (Reg Required):

“Moreover, certain of our lenders have committed to make substantial new investments in the company in connection with this restructuring. Significantly, the plan will enhance liquidity and the company expects to have over $600M of new working capital to support growth initiatives.”

The Irish Independent:

Education Media & Publishing Group, the parent company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said it is in discussions with its debt holders aimed at a “comprehensive” financial restructuring.

EMPG is holding talks to put it on a “stronger financial footing,” it said today in an e-mailed statement.

“These developments have no adverse effect on our day-to- day operations, on our employees, or on the nature and quality of the services we provide to our customers and business partners,” it said in the statement.