Questex Media Group (“Questex Media”) and 8 affiliated entities (“Debtors”) filed petitions on October 5, 2009 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code. The Debtors have moved for joint administration of the Debtors’ cases under case number 09-13423. The case has been assigned to Judge Mary F. Walrath.
The Business of the Debtors
The Debtors’ petitions and the first day motions are supported by the declaration of Thomas E. Caridi, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President (the “Caridi Declaration”). The Caridi Declaration includes the following description of the Debtors’ business:
Questex is a leading, diversified, global, business-to-business (“B2B”) integrated media and information provider headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts. Questex serves multiple industries including technology, telecommunications, beauty, spa, travel, hospitality, leisure, home entertainment, landscape design, building services, and natural resources through a range of well-established market-leading publications, tradeshows, conferences and events, interactive media research and information, and integrated marketing services.
The FDM Affidavit identifies the Debtors business seqments as: (a) print and digital media solutions (in 2008, $69 million in revenue and $14 million in contribution); (b) event management (in 2008, $63 million in revenue and $26 million in contribution); and (c) business intelligence (in 2008, $12 million in revenue and $900,000 in contribution).
The Debtor, QMG Holdings, Inc., is the direct or indirect parent corporation of the other Debtors. Based on the estimated number of creditors and estimated value of assets in the Debtors petitions, Questex Media Group, Inc. is the largest of the Debtor operating companies. It is also the direct subsidiary of QMG Holdings, Inc. and the direct or indirect parent of the other operating companies.
Potential for Debtor Misidentification
All of the domestic subsidiaries and affiliates of Questex Media are included in the filings. Questex Media has 5 foreign subsidiaries – Questex Asia Limited (Hong Kong), McLean Events International Limited (UK), GSM Corporation (Japan), InfoTrends Limited (UK) and Pelecan Events Limited (UK). None of the foreign subsidiaries are debtors in these cases and the initial filings give no indication that any foreign subsidiary has commenced insolvency proceedings in other jurisdictions.
The Debtors have moved for joint administration of the Debtors’ cases. The joint administration of the Debtors’ cases is for procedural purposes only. For substantive purposes, including the exercise by a creditor of any substantive rights, the correct Debtor entity still must be identified. The initial filings do not indicate the degree to which the Debtors operations are integrated with one another. There is also no statement in any of the initial pleadings as to whether one of the Debtors has acted as a purchasing agent or otherwise contracted for one or more of the other Debtors. The Statistical Information included in the petitions, however, gives an indication that vendors may have been shared among the Debtors.
As the first step in assessing this bankruptcy, a supplier or other unsecured trade creditor should confirm the identity of the entity with whom it contracted. A supplier should also confirm the identity of the actual recipient of any goods and services provided by the supplier.
Listing of the Debtors, Case Numbers and Petition Statistical Information
A listing of the corporate name of each of the Debtors, its case number and estimated number of creditors, assets and liabilities, as listed in each petition, is provided a table below.
Creditor Name | Case No. | Estimated No. of Creditors | Estimated Assets | Estimated Liabilities |
Questex Media Group, Inc. | 09-13423 | 1,000-5,000 | $100,000,001 to $500 Million | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
FierceMarkets, Inc. | 09-13424 | 1,000-5,000 | $10,000,001 to $50 Million | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
Info Trends, Inc. | 09-13425 | 1,000-5,000 | $1,000,001 to $10 Million | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
Info Trends Research Group, Inc. | 09-13426 | 1,000-5,000 | $0 to $50,000 | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
Oxford Communication, Inc. | 09-13427 | 1,000-5,000 | $0 to $50,000 | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
Oxford Publishing, Inc. | 09-13428 | 1,000-5,000 | $10,000,001 to $50 Million | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
QMG Holdings, Inc. | 09-13429 | 1,000-5,000 | $0 to $50,000 | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
Questex Brazil, LLC | 09-13430 | 1,000-5,000 | $0 to $50,000 | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |
Show Events, Inc. | 09-13431 | 1,000-5,000 | $0 to $50,000 | $100,000,001 to $500 Million |