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IRVINE, CA-Atherton-Newport Investments, which controlsapproximately 5,000 units of multifamily property in Las Vegas,Phoenix, Seattle and South Florida, filed a voluntary Chapter 11bankruptcy petition this week after problems meeting its debtservice. The Irvine-based company issued a statement saying thatthe filing "was necessitated by the actions of one of ANI'screditors," who include about 200 note-holders that invested about$40 million in ANI.

Atherton-Newport referred questions regarding the Chapter 11filling to its attorney, Joseph A. Eisenberg of Jeffer, Mangels,Butler & Marmaro in Century City, who tells GlobeSt.com thatafter ANI "became illiquid and unable to service its debt," some ofthe note-holders began collection efforts that prompted thebankruptcy filing. As Eisenberg explains, Atherton-Newportinitiated the filing "to ensure that all of the note-holders weretreated equally and fairly" and so that "nobody would leap to thefront of the line by litigating aggressively" to collect on thedebt.