Court confirms FAO

reorganization plan

Children's specialty retailer FAO Inc. received confirmation of its reorganization plan from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The court's ruling will allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a short 83 days and begin making distributions to creditors pursuant to the terms of the plan.

As part of the plan, FAO received a commitment for up to $77 million in bank financing to be used to fund operations when the plan becomes effective.

The bank financing includes a $67 million revolving credit facility provided by a group of banks led by Fleet Retail Finance Inc. and a $10 million term loan provided by Back Bay Capital Funding LLC.

In addition, FAO received agreements for the purchase of $30 million in convertible preferred stock from a group of investors led by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP. After issuance of the preferred stock and securities issued to creditors under the bankruptcy plan, existing equity holders are expected to retain about 11 percent of the company's outstanding equity on a fully diluted basis.

FAO Inc. assumed its current form in January 2002 when it purchased the FAO Schwarz brand, which originated in 1862.

In September 2001, the company purchased assets of Zany Brainy Inc., which began business in 1991 and has one store in Memphis.

Mid-America Apartment

to discuss earnings

Executives Eric Bolton and Simon Wadsworth will host a discussion of first quarter operations at Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. at 10 a.m. May 9, after release the previous evening of first quarter results.

The conference call-in number is (800) 223-9488. It will be available on digital replay. To access the system for replay, dial (800) 938-0996 through May 16.

A webcast of the call by CCBN also will be available at Mid-America's Web site at www.maac.net.

Northwest Airlines

reports March traffic

Northwest Airlines announced a system-wide March load factor of 75.5 percent, 6.4 points below March 2002.

System-wide, Northwest flew 5.99 billion revenue passenger miles and 7.94 billion available seat miles in March, a traffic decrease of 6.4 percent on a 1.6 percent increase in capacity versus March 2002.

Northwest experienced a decline in travel demand due to uncertainty created by the war in Iraq. System-wide traffic and load factor declined 11 percent and 9.6 points, respectively, versus the prior year since the onset of the war.

IP to discuss

earnings April 24

International Paper will release first quarter earnings April 24 before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange. The company will host a webcast to discuss earnings and current market conditions at 9 a.m. that day.

The webcast can be accessed at the company's Web site, www.internationalpaper.com, by clicking on the Investor Information button. Those who wish to listen to the live broadcast must pre-register at the site in advance of the webcast. Registration will be available beginning at 2 p.m. April 23.

A replay will be available on the Web site beginning at noon April 24.