SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Penn Traffic Co., based here, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, just four years after emerging from a previous bankruptcy filing.
The company said it would pursue a sale of its assets.
Penn Traffic, which had whittled down its store base and sold off its distribution business since the previous filing, also said it plans to continue to operate its remaining stores and is expected to go to court today seeking a consensual cash collateral arrangement with senior secured lenders to allow it to do so.
Earlier this month the company said it had engaged a crisis management firm, Conway Del Genio Gries & Co., and installed a representative of that firm, Ronald F. Stengel, as its chief restructuring officer. At that time the company said its lenders had agreed not to proceed with remedies related to a credit default until Nov. 25.
In the bankruptcy filing yesterday, Penn Traffic listed assets totaling $150.4 million and debts totaling $136.9 million. Among the largest unsecured claimants are Local 23 Health Fund, Canonsburg, Pa., owed $518,996.75; and ABC Refrigeration, East Syracuse, N.Y., owed $405,216.79. The filing also said Penn Traffic has retained law firm Haynes and Boone LLP as bankruptcy counsel for the case.
As of September, Penn Traffic operated 79 stores in the Western New York state region under the P&C, Quality and BiLo banners.
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