The proposed saviors of Pittsburgh Brewing expect to boost sales more than 20 percent and turn a profit in their first year, according to court documents outlining plans to resuscitate the bankrupt brewer.

The investor group will rely on the assistance of current shareholder Jack P. Cerone and several members of current management, but not necessarily President Joseph Piccirilli, who led the 1995 rescue of the long-troubled brewer.

Mr. Piccirilli, who owns 44 percent of the brewery, would not be a shareholder or manager in the new company. However, he hasn't been ruled out as a consultant or lower-level employee, according to a reorganization plan filed Tuesday with U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Downtown.

The plan does not identify how much cash or debt the proposed buyers, led by John N. Milne of Unified Growth Partners, would invest in the brewery. It mentions spending $4 million for capital improvements and $500,000 for marketing, as well as lawyer fees and other administrative expenses of up to $2.7 million.

Nor does the plan identify the source of the funding.

The 21-page document is the second attempt at outlining a reorganization plan. An effort in October, which also did not identify a funding source, was declared dead on arrival by some creditors and U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge M. Bruce McCullough, who is overseeing the case.

Creditor reaction to the latest effort depends on how Mr. Milne's group intends to deal with them.

Mr. Cerone, the son of late convicted Chicago mob boss John "Jackie the Lackey" Cerone, is the brewery's largest secured creditor with about $8 million in claims. He has a 20 percent interest in Pittsburgh Brewing and would get a 5 percent interest in the reorganized company as well as the right to purchase additional stock.

The Chicago attorney also would serve on the company's board of directors, be paid a consultants' fee of $84,000 annually for seven years, and continue to receive loan payments. The debt includes loans banks made to Pittsburgh Brewing that Mr. Cerone later acquired from the banks as well as his personal loan to the company, which would be repaid at 1.25 percent monthly interest.

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, which has $2.7 million in claims over unpaid bills, would receive only $250,000, less than 10 cents on the dollar. The agency's threat to terminate service over more than $2 million in unpaid bills prompted the company to seek bankruptcy protection in December 2005.

Unsecured creditors, who would have received 33 cents on the dollar under the first proposed plan, are in limbo. Mr. Milne's lawyers are continuing negotiations with them, but if no agreement is reached, they would get nothing.

That is a common outcome for unsecured creditors, which include the companies that provide ingredients and packaging for Iron City and IC Light, the brewery's flagship beers.

Robert G. Sable, the attorney for unsecured creditors, declined comment yesterday pending his clients' review of the proposal.

The unsecured creditors also include the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Last year, the federal agency took over the brewery's frozen pension plan, which has a deficit estimated at about $12 million. In its first plan, the company had said it would contest the PBGC's $1.8 million claim.

Other than Mr. Cerone, whose claims are backed by liens on the brewery's Lawrenceville real estate, no other current shareholders would receive stock in the new venture. That also is common in bankruptcy reorganizations.

If Mr. Milne's group prevails, it projects a profit of about $200,000 on sales of about $30 million in the first year of ownership. Financial statements filed as part of the plan indicate the brewery lost $3 million last year on sales of $24.5 million.

Those upbeat projections are based on 15 percent lower labor costs under a concessionary contract approved by the IUE/Communications Workers of America in January, a 20 percent reduction in health care costs, production efficiencies from the $4 million in capital improvements and higher sales generated by the $500,000 investment in marketing.

Mr. Milne's group would rely on three key members of current management, including vice president of sales Tony Ferraro. The reorganized company would be led by Tim Hickman, an Ohio businessman who helped negotiate the new union contract.

The investors hope to win court approval for the reorganization by May 10.