Ever since Tower was put on credit hold by suppliers, the main question about the company's future was which chapter of the bankruptcy code it would file under? Would it be a Chapter 7, which woud mean the store would close its doors for good and liquidate its assets to pay creditors, or a Chapter 11, which would allow it to restructure its debts?

Last night a press release was released that answered the question: Tower plans to seek a buyer under a special section (Section 365) of Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Given a judges approval, the Section 365 procedure will mean Tower will be purchased within 60 days of the filing.

In the Bankruptcy Court petition (read PDF) filed for MTS Incorporated, Tower's parent company, both estimated assets and estimated debts are listed as "to more than $100 million." (Update: As pointed out at The Velvet Rope, I did not have a link to the other documents. To read all six court petitions, go to the Tower Records (2006) page at the Omni Management website and click on the "court docket" link on the left.)

Starting at page 10, the 40 largest claims against the company are listed. (No major music groups are listed here.) The top ten are:

1. Six Degrees Records, $1,898,563
2. International Periodical, $1,282,247
3. Super D/Phantom, $846,822
4. Harmonia Mundi, $791,218
5. Ingram Entertainment, $758,583
6. Entertainment UK Ltd, $758,583
7. Image Entertainment, $750,592
8. City Hall Records, $595,441
9. Allegro Corp, $548,457
10. Select-O-Hits, $524,513