N.J. Securities Firm Files for Chapter 11

NEWARK, N.J. â€”  Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Asset Management, a government securities dealer, filed Monday for protection from its creditors while it reorganizes under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise then froze the assets of the Livingston, N.J.-based company until further order of the court.

News of the filing contributed to a decline in the dollar in light trading on the foreign exchange markets, dealers said.

Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Asset Management said in papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that as of Dec. 31, 1984, its total assets were $502.7 million while its total liabilities came to $498.2 million.

Later, the Dow Jones News Service reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission had asked an unidentified federal judge to place the company into Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The judge did not rule on the SEC’s request.

$48-Million Gap

Under Chapter 11, firms are protected from creditor suits while they try to reorganize their debts. Under Chapter 7, firms are liquidated and the proceeds are distributed to their creditors.

SEC officials added that there was a $48-million gap between the $426 million worth of the company’s agreements to repurchase government securities and the $378.7 million in agreements to sell such securities.

Ira Sorkin, regional administrator of the SEC, declined to comment on the impact of the filing.

Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Asset Management’s biggest unsecured creditors included Great American Federal Savings & Loan, Oak Park, Ill., $30 million (no relation to Great American Savings & Loan of San Diego); Fort Lee Savings & Loan, Fort Lee, N.J., $19 million; Northern Bank & Trust Co., Little Rock, Ark., $25.5 million; Army Morale Support Fund, Arlington, Va., $11 million; Vernon Savings & Loan, Vernon, Tex., $10.5 million; Cross County Federal Savings & Loan, Middle Village, N.Y., $9.8 million; First Federal Savings & Loan, Freeport, Ill., $6.1 million; Southern Illinois Bank, Fairview Heights, Ill., $5.4 million, and First Federal Savings & Loan, Washington Court House, Ohio; $4.4 million.

Also, Newport National Bank, Providence, R.I., $4 million; Pennbank, Titusville, Pa., $3.3 million; Lesney Products Corp., Waldwick, N.J., $3.3 million; Citizens Savings & Loan, Bellefontaine, Ohio, $3.2 million; Security Savings & Loan, Salina, Kan., $2.8 million; Greenville Federal Savings & Loan, Greenville, Ohio, $2.8 million; Peoples Savings & Loan Assn., Streator, Ill., $2.8 million; Merritt Commercial Savings & Loan, Baltimore, $2.2 million; Imperial Savings & Loan, San Diego, which changed its name to Imperial Savings, San Diego, $2.1 million; First Savings & Loan Assn., Perth Amboy, N.J., $1.6 million, and Savings Building & Loan, Sandusky, Ohio, $1.5 million.

Affiliate Remains Open

A secretary in the legal department of Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Asset Management said a broker-dealer affiliate, Bevill, Bresler & Schulman, remains open