Michigan

Detroit's attorneys called a $1.5 billion 2005 certificates of participation financing an "insider deal" that benefited banks and helped doom the struggling city during a federal hearing on the disputed debt issuance.

A post-bankrupt Detroit will not only be a "normal borrower" within a year, but will be stronger than many credits in the muni market, the city's investment banker testified in federal court Tuesday.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., the last major holdout creditor in Detroit's bankruptcy, is reportedly nearing a settlement with the city that includes a mix of cash and city assets.

The judge overseeing a retiree lawsuit challenging the city of Pontiac's effort to cut retiree health care benefits has ordered the parties into in mediation with one of the mediators of the Detroit bankruptcy case, while the city has hired Detroit's top restructuring firm to analyze its options for paying off the debt.

US Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who is overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy, ruled in favor of the city Monday when he dismissed a restraining order blocking the city's ability to shut off water to nonpaying customers.

Detroit Friday gained Michigan's final approval for a plan to issue $1.1 billion of bonds for a bankruptcy exit financing and to raise money to pay off several creditors.

Detroit officials regained control of most government functions, while remaining under state-controlled emergency management, after the city council late Thursday adopted a resolution that keeps Kevyn Orr on as manager with reduced powers until the bankruptcy is over.

A day after Michigan gave a $2.6 million loan to the city of Allen Park, Gov. Rick Snyder declared that the Detroit suburb's financial emergency is resolved, allowing the city's emergency manager, Joyce Parker, to formally step aside.

A Michigan board Wednesday voted to approve two emergency loans to cash-strapped Detroit suburbs, which are under state control, that will be used for pension payments.

Detroit officials could announce the future of emergency manager Kevyn Orr's role in the bankrupt city after his term ends Sept. 27. Some city council members reportedly favor a limited role to oversee the final weeks of the bankruptcy.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., standing alone as the last major creditor holding out in the Detroit bankruptcy, challenged the city's recent settlement with fellow insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc.

The Detroit City Council Friday approved a new regional water authority to take over the bulk of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department and also gave the green light to the city's bankruptcy settlement with bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc.

Any sale of the art in the Detroit Institute of Arts would make the DIA "persona non grata in the museum world," a museum official and an art finance consultant testified at a trial on the city's bankruptcy exit plan.

The Michigan Strategic Fund approved the issuance of $450 million of 30-year bonds to finance a new hockey stadium near downtown Detroit, a transaction that will feature a mix of tax-exempt and taxable debt, a mandatory tender and interest-rate swaps.

The two counterparty banks on Detroit's interest-rate swaps no longer need to drop their claims against Syncora Guarantee Inc. after Syncora agreed to modify its settlement with the city.

A former Wayne County chief financial officer is one of three county officials indicted Monday as part of an investigation into a $300 million bond-funded jail in downtown Detroit.

Detroit and Syncora Guarantee Inc. said Monday they've reached a final settlement that is expected to accelerate the city's exit from the largest municipal bankruptcy in the U.S.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. asked the federal court to delay the Detroit bankruptcy trial for at least a week to give it time to prepare new legal strategy in light of the city's proposed settlement with Syncora Guarantee Inc.

Flint, in many ways a mini-Detroit, is likely to avoid bankruptcy amid improving financial conditions unless it loses a court battle over its effort to cut retiree health care costs, Moody's Investors Service says in a new report.

Syncora Guarantee Inc. is pushing back against widely reported claims that it is receiving 26 cents on the dollar in its tentative settlement with Detroit, saying the actual recovery is “much lower than reported.”