Labouring under the mountain of debt it assumed with its rash acquisition of Cadnetix Inc, Daisy Systems Corp has responded to the involuntary bankruptcy petition brought against it by some of its bondholders on May 31 by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It also requested the appointment of an operating trustee and discloses that it has $40m in secured debt and $73m in debentures out, and these sums are far in excess of its assets. The international operations are not directly affected by the filing, and the company plans a big reduction in its US sales, marketing, customer service and engineering workforce. It hopes to sell the Daisy/Cadnetix computer aided engineering software and systems subsidiary – essentially the whole company – as a going concern. Ahead of the filing, which is supported by the company’s principal secured creditor, Heller Financial Daisy shut down all US operations for two weeks on July 18. Daisy has about 800 employees worldwide, about 500 of them in the US. Racal Elect ronics Plc’s Racal-Redac unit is thought to be one of two contenders interested in buying the company, the other being an investment group.
