InPhonic, which sells wireless products and services, sought bankruptcy protection after it agreed to be bought by a private-equity firm, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. InPhonic listed assets of $120.9 million and debt of $179.4 million in chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. InPhonic, which hired the investment banking firm Lazard last month to explore a possible sale, plans to sell its assets to an affiliate of Philadelphia-based Versa Capital Management, the company said. Seven affiliates of InPhonic also filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The company, which began operations in 1999, asked that the cases be jointly administered by the court.
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U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced yesterday an overhaul of rules governing the student loan industry, including measures prohibiting lenders from offering schools gifts in exchange for business and a mandate that each university include at least three companies on its preferred lender list, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The new regulations, which will be released today and go into effect in July, were crafted in response to criticism that the department has not provided adequate oversight of the $85 billion-a-year industry. Federal education officials also said that the department has sent letters to 921 colleges and universities nationwide seeking details on their relationships with lenders. The letters, mailed in July, were sent to institutions at which more than 80 percent of loans are handled by a single lender. A second set of letters was sent to 55 schools and 23 lenders in October.