Jonesboro businessman files $34.4m bankruptcy.(Brief article)

A Jonesboro businessman has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, listing $34.4 million in debts.

Kenneth Leroy Burden, who owns several companies tied to real estate, filed for personal bankruptcy and listed only $283,907 in assets. Burden's attorney, James Dowden of Little Rock, said the sluggish real estate market led to the filing.

Nearly all of Burden's debt, or $33.7 million, is to creditors holding unsecured claims.

Burden's larger unsecured claims include Liberty Bank of Arkansas in Jonesboro, $13.3 million; Bank of Bartlett of Memphis, $4.9 million; First Commercial Bank in Jonesboro, $3.2 million; Simmons First Bank in Jonesboro, $1.35 million; Heritage Bank in Jonesboro, $975,000; and Pulaski Bank (now IberiaBank) in Jonesboro, $647,500. Assets of the businesses Burden owned secure each debt, but Burden had personally guaranteed the debts.

Burden's companies include Trust Homes LLC of Jonesboro, a homebuilding company formed in 2001; First Cap Investments LLC of Cordova, Tenn., a land development company formed in 2005; New Home Realty LLC of Cordova, Tenn., a real estate company created in 2000; and New Home Care of Cordova, Tenn., a property management company formed in 2007. Burden also owned 25 percent of Regions Development Group, a commercial real estate development firm formed in 2005.

Those businesses have not filed for bankruptcy protection.

Burden also was facing several collection lawsuits, which will be put on hold while his bankruptcy makes its way through the court.

Burden couldn't be reached for comment.

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