Highfields Stuck in the Lowlands on Adelphia Play

A major buyer of Adelphia Communications (ADLAE Quote) shares in recent weeks is scrambling to prevent its $84 million investment from going down the drain.

Highfields Capital Management, a Boston-based firm with more than $1 billion under management, publicly complained Friday that Adelphia's reported plan to raise cash via quick asset sales is a "shortsighted mistake ... tantamount to 'burning the furniture to keep the house warm.'"

Arguing that Adelphia, the troubled cable TV system operator, has assets that far outweigh its liabilities, Highfields argued in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the company should put the entire company up for sale in "an orderly sale process," one that Highfields says would reassure creditors that they would be paid in full and enable Adelphia to avoid a filing for bankruptcy protection. ...