Isn't there a Tower Records in Kansas City, Mo? I thought in the late 1970's or early 80's, an Italian family owned Tower Records in K.C., Mo. *************************************************

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,5-2001312179,00.html SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 08 2001 Tower 'to default in one month' BY CLIVE MATHIESON TOWER Records, the international music retailer with outlets in the UK, will file for bankruptcy within months unless it can find new funding or pay off its banks, ratings agencies gave warning last night. Standard & Poor’s downgraded its rating on the debt of Tower’s main operating unit, MTS, to CCC and CC — its fourth and second-lowest junk bond grades other than companies in default of their loans.

Earlier Moody’s Investors Service said the company was “likely to file for bankruptcy” unless it was able to find extra financing to pay off its loans and meet bank demands.

S&P told investors that the Tower Records unit could breach the terms of a bank credit line within four weeks. That facility requires MTS to secure funding by October 1 to cut borrowings by $100 million (£67 million) by the end of the year, from about $202 million at the end of April.

If MTS can not comply with the terms, S&P said its banks could stop the company making an interest payment on its $100 million of subordinated notes on November 1.

Privately owned Tower Records, based in California, was founded in 1960 and runs 183 stores worldwide.

S&P said its latest ratings downgrade was based on “near-term financial pressures resulting from MTS’s heavy debt payment requirements and the expectation that the company will not be in compliance with at least one of the covenants in its recently revised senior credit facility.”

-- Anonymous, September 09, 2001