Cerplex Creditors Turn Up Heat

Creditors have moved to force Cerplex Group Inc. into bankruptcy for failing to pay its debts on time, the Tustin computer service firm said Wednesday.

Cerplex, which has logged heavy losses over the last five years, had warned April 18 that it failed to make a $2.2-million payment due on certain debt securities.

At the time, the company said it was seeking other financing alternatives, but it didn’t know if they would allow it pay off the debt.

The amount owed to all holders of the company’s debentures due 2001 is estimated to be in excess of $10 million, the company said.

The petition seeking involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy for Cerplex was filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., by five debt holders and trustee Chase Manhattan Trust Co.

The petitioners are John Levin, GT Partnership, EZ Investment Partnership and Alpha Capital L.P., and J.A. Glynn & Co. Cerplex has been struggling for years, the result of expanding too quickly in the early 1990s, according to analysts.

It merged early in 1998 with ailing San Diego rival Aurora Electronics Inc., but the losses continued to mount. In the last five years, the company lost nearly $163 million.

The stock, which was dropped from the Nasdaq national market in 1997, closed Wednesday at 25 cents a share, up 6 cents, in trading over the counter.