It’s official: Bankrupt LightSquared is up for grabs.
As The Post predicted last week, hedge fund billionaire Phil Falcone — LightSquared’s founder and largest investor — missed a deadline yesterday to file a reorganization plan for the wireless venture.
In court papers, Falcone has asked the bankruptcy court to give his Harbinger Capital hedge fund more time to get a plan together. He had until July 15 to exclusively hash out a deal with LightSquared’s creditors.
The first of several hearings on the issue is slated for tomorrow.
In the meantime, Falcone’s nemesis, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen, is free to put forward a rival offer. Ergen has said he wants to bid $2 billion for certain LightSquared assets, which would pay off creditors of the $1.7 billion first lien bank loan, including Ergen’s own $1 billion of debt.
A lawyer for Ergen declined to comment.
If Ergen does put forward his own plan, a bankruptcy judge could still decide to block him.
Falcone’s lawyers have argued that Ergen — a competitor — should be excluded from the bankruptcy process because he has been buying up LightSquared’s debt as part of a ploy to scuttle the reorganization and nab the assets on the cheap.