Jacko’s Beat Goes On For HF

Date: Monday, October 22, 2007
Author: Hedge Fund Daily

King of Pop Michael Jackson is facing a frightening situation this Halloween: he needs to come up with a $5 million loan payment to Fortress Trust and at this point he appears not to have a ghost of a chance of scaring up the funds by the Oct. 31 deadline. The trust, a unit of Fortress Investment Group, had acquired the Gloved One’s $272 million loan two years ago from Bank of America and then refinanced it in April 2006 to $325 million. Had Jacko defaulted on his loan then, Fortress could have picked up his share of the Beatles’ catalog, valued at $500 million. Instead, Fortress negotiated a new loan payment program for the singer but it appears that still hasn’t helped the hedge fund get its money. In order to generate some cash, Fox News reports Jackson is working on a special 25^th anniversary edition of his most successful work, the album Thriller, which Sony will issue early next year. Given that Jackson reportedly has no contract with any other record label, says Fox, nor any desire to do the tour circuits again, Thriller better be a killer of a hit for all those concerned. The album reportedly will include some previously unreleased tracks, among other things. According to Fox News, Fortress was working to unload the Jackson loan to generate some cash but the unnamed interested party has since disappeared. Meanwhile, in other Fortress-Jackson related news, Prince Abdulla Al-Khalifa of Bahrain has sued the pop king in London for breaching a $7 million contract to record new record albums, a Broadway show and an autobiography. Among his charges filed in London court, the prince notes that he paid the singer’s legal fees in connection with the Fortress deal.