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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, August 2-5, 2008 The Park Record £-16 Frontier Air landsc$75 million loan ^Experience theffomesteodl Tree gas Card! Per stay with our "Economic Stimulus" Package Investment to help airline emerge from bankruptcy $159* * BY GREG GRIFFIN The Denver Post Garden-style Accommodations Breakfast for Two $50 Gas Card Denver - Frontier Airlines negotiated with a handful of potential financial backers after filing for bankruptcy protection in April. But as oil prices hit record highs in June and Frontier's prospects dimmed, they began to fall away. All but one. Perseus LLC, a little-known but well-connected Washington private equity firm with $2 billion of invested capital, stayed with Frontier. On Friday, Frontier announced that Perseus agreed to lend it $75 million in a deal that could eventually give the firm control of the airline. The debt is convertible to equity upon Frontier's exit from bankruptcy, and Perseus can put in another $25 million for a total "Starting at rate based on double occupancy excluding tax. One gas card per stay. Some restrictions may apply. 700 N. Homestead Dr. Midway, UT 84049 866-628-0419 * www.HomcsteadResort.com 888.427.7368 f\J/>E THE WILD WEST W I ONLY HINT NIWIR EQUIPMENT! DAILY RENTALS AS LOW A i l ^%-ERGRAFT $139*' WWHEELER DIRTBIKJE $129 r : r v>.fi«. SKI/WKEBOARD 22' P©NTOON BOAT $239 A l l RENTALS INCLUDE THE TRAILER! stake of just under 80 percent. The deal is a breakthrough for Frontier, which lost $38 million in April and May and is viewed by many analysts as the weakest of Denver International Airport's three main airlines. Brian Leitch, a senior managing director of Perseus who lives in Colorado, liked, what he saw at Frontier. "When do you want to buy an airline? When no one else wants to. When there aren't other buyers," Leitch said. ''Frontier has a great product. We like the management, the employees, the culture and we like its position competitively in the market." Leitch has seen his share of troubled airlines from the inside. An attorney-turned-financier, he was lead counsel for US Airways during its most recent trip through bankruptcy court, which ended with a merger with America West Airlines. He was involved in nearly every major airline restructuring during the last 17 years, going back to Braniff International. Until last year, Leitch headed prices," Leitch said. Perseus protected itself against future fuel-price spikes. It can withdraw from the deal and take its cash back if aviation fuel prices go above a certain level. Still, Perseus' move is viewed by some as a high-risk investment. Frontier's plans to emerge from bankruptcy still could be savaged by rising oil prices, and Southwest Airlines' aggressive expansion at DIA could make it difficult for Frontier to raise fares. "Frontier is caught in a vise between United (Airlines) and its large hub and Southwest and its rapidly growing flight schedule," Douglas Runte, managing director of RBS Greenwich Capital, told Bloomberg. "This is potentially a very painful place to be," he added. Leitch said Frontier is well positioned to compete with Southwest. Frontier continued to grow even as Southwest grew at DIA during the last year and a half. "There's room for both carriers here," he said. the Denver office and managed the reorganization practice of Washington-based law firm Arnold & Porter. Leitch said he had been interested in investing in Frontier well before the bankruptcy filing. He called Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke before the filing and they began discussing a potential investment shortly after, the men said. "Because Brian understands the airline industry and the bankruptcy process so well, he recognized that Frontier had a good story to tell in all of this," Menke said Friday. "His connection to Colorado and familiarity with the Frontier brand and loyalty base here certainly helped as well." Menke and Leitch said rising oil prices didn't deter Perseus. The decline in oil prices last week didn't propel the deal forward, either. "We don't have the ability to predict where oil prices are going to go. We've made an investment we believe will be successful across a broad. range of oil Whole Foods, Wild Oats merger questioned Appeals court remands case to district court BY ALEX MCCARTHY The Denver Post Denver - Whole Foods Market Inc.'s acquisition of Boulder-based Wild Oats Markets is up in the air again after an appeals court ruled Tuesday that a lower court didn't fully consider the impact of the deal. The appeals court remanded the case for reconsideration to U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, saying he too quickly SUMMIT COUNTY FAIR PRCA RODEO and errantly dismissed Federal Trade Commission claims that Whole Foods' purchase of rival Wild Oats violated antitrust law. Whole Foods closed on its $565 million purchase of Wild Oats shortly after Friedman denied the FTC's preliminary injunction to block the merger last August due to concerns it would limit competition in the organic retail sector. Whole Foods has already closed some Wild Oats locations and converted others to the Whole Foods namepfate. The ruling does not require the dissolution of the deal, nor does it deem the acquisition unlawful, but observers wonder where this could go for the Austin, Texas-based natural- Colorado wind turbine short on power BY CHUCK PLUNKETT The Denver Post August 8th & 9th at 8:00 pm Summit County Fair Grounds 202 East Park Rd, Coalville Tickets: Friday August 8th 3 & under free, 4-14 $4, 15 & up $10 Saturday August 9th all tickets $10 For more information please call 435.615.3221 where Whole Foods could be ordered not to close or rename any more Wild Oats stores to preserve the status quo. The FTC proceedings, which can last at least six months, could end in the FTC ordering Whole Foods to divest the Wild Oats stores it acquired to be run independently, she said. "Nobody quite knows what the process is going to be, this is really pretty unusual," Feinstein said. "In a case like this, where there are identifiable assets that could be divested, there have been post-closing proceedings." Whole Foods said in a statement it may seek a review by the entire court of appeals, but "meanwhile, it is business as usual.71 • foods grocer. "The mind boggles at what it could take to disentangle those two companies," said Kevin Coupe, founder and editor of Morningnewsbeat.com, a Connecticut-based Web site for food retail and manufacturing sectors. "This is more complicated than breaking up a marriage." Debbie Feinstein, a partner at Arnold & Porter in Washington who specializes in antitrust cases, said now that the case is back in district court, the judge can either decline again, or it could take several courses of action pending the FTC's administrative proceedings, which had been stayed but could be reactivated at any time. One such interim remedy is asset maintenance, Bender-The symbolic heart of a plan to clear the tons of carbon spewed from planes bringing the 6,000 delegates to Denver for the Democratic National Convention next month isn't beating. The wind turbine built on Colorado's eastern plains this February contained a lemon of a power converter that hasn't been able to deliver the promised kilowatts, says Ron Howard,, superintendent of the school district that had the clean-energy windmill installed. "It runs absolutely like a top until you turn on the (power) converter," Howard said. *Td say they don't have the bugs out of it. So they're going to go with a power converter they know, and that produces what it's supposed t o . p r o r d Howard said a repair crew is scheduled to come to the windswept town of Wray, 170 miles ; east of Denver, on Wednesday. The * giant wind turbine should begin 3 producing power about two weeks . after that, in plenty of time for the • Aug. 25-28 convention. C News of the. problem was first reported by FaceTheState.com, a for-proflt site that describes itself as aligned with Republican ideology, but not partisan. The Wray project is meant to aide the community by covering the fiscally strapped school district's energy costs, and by providing 20 percent of the town's power. The turbine was praised at a R E G I S T E R press conference in April featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leah Daughtry, chief executive of the Democratic National Convention Committee, as an example of what carbon credits can do. Daughtry challenged convention delegates to buy enough credits to offset their travel. The credits come from NativeEnergy, which sells them in order to fund projects like Wray's. The project remains important to the DNCC, said spokesman Damon Jones, because it is seen, in the long term, as a viable project that's good for the community and the environment. The converter is being replaced at no cost and the district has been paid for the energy the turbine was to have produced, Howard said. T E A M S N O W League-a I Adult Fun SUMMIT COUNTY FAIR PARADE FALL SPORTS LEAGUES FOR PLAYERS 18 & OLDER Adult Kickball League Aug 20-o^t. 5 • vi/ednesdiif •t'1.' Registration Deadline: Aug. 13 W ' x - ' T Ultimate Frisbee League Registration Deadline: Aug. 14 7 / 7 SOCCer August 9th at 10:00am Coalville Main Street Entries are due August Theme - "A Blue Ribbon Celebration" Please contact Becky Grant 435.640.0006 or the Fair Office at 435.336.3221 or 435.783.4351 ext 3221 e Aug.21 -,Oct. 30 -::Thursday NlflWs; Register your teams online @ pAkaf^fecrealion.org or at the Park:Oltydki0quet Club |