US insurer, Conseco, became the US's third-largest bankruptcy today as it struggled under more than $6 billion in debt.
The move, which analysts and rating agencies have expected for some time, marks the end of several months of negotiations between Conseco and its banks and bondholders, triggered by defaults on its loans and bond payments earlier this year.
Conseco has assets of $52.2 billion, according to recent financial reports, putting the firm behind only WorldCom and Enron .
The company has struggled since it piled up massive debts in a 1990s acquisition binge under flamboyant founder and chief executive Mr Stephen Hilbert, capped by a disastrous purchase of loan firm Green Tree Financial in 1998.
That deal exposed Conseco to a mountain of bad loans - largely on mobile homes and manufactured housing - which worsened as the economy turned sour.
Conseco's stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in the summer, and its shares last sold for less than 4 cents each in over-the-counter trading on Monday. Conseco bonds due in 2004 last traded around 7 cents on the dollar.