Six Flags CEO Says Debt Holder Won't Talk

By KRISTEN A. LEE

NEW YORK (AP) — A key holder of Six Flags Inc.'s debt is holding up its effort to restructure its debt and avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company's president and chief executive told investors Monday.

The New York-based company's first looming financial obligation is to holders of its preferred income redeemable shares, or PIERS, who will be due more than $300 million when the shares mature on Aug. 15.

Six Flags has said it does not expect to have enough cash to meet that obligation.

During a conference call with investors, CEO Mark Shapiro did not name the resistant debt holder, which he said has a "significant amount" of $130 million in senior notes due in February 2010. But he said a fund manager "has refused to meet" to renegotiate the debt.

"The auto companies have an easier time getting a meeting with the United Auto Workers than I do of getting a meeting with this particular portfolio fund manager," Shapiro said.

Shapiro declined to confirm or deny a report in the New York Times that the fund manager runs the Fidelity Capital and Income Fund. A Fidelity spokesman said the company "cannot comment on individual credits or companies."