UPDATE 1-Allied Van Lines parent bankrupt in housing crunch

(Adds details from court papers, closing prices, byline)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Sirva Inc SIRV.PK, the provider of moving services and parent of Allied Van Lines, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday after struggling with too much debt in the U.S. housing downturn.

The Westmont, Illinois-based company and close to 60 affiliates filed for protection in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan. It has $924.5 million of assets, $1.23 billion of debt, and more than 100,000 creditors, according to the filing. Sirva said the bankruptcy covers only its U.S. operations.

Sirva expects to stay in business while it restructures, and emerge from bankruptcy within 60 to 90 days.

Sirva sought court protection after reaching an agreement with lenders on a "prepackaged" bankruptcy that will reduce debt by $200 million and annual interest costs by $54 million.

It said the filing will allow it to "free up its operations from a heavy debt service burden and to strengthen its balance sheet" to weather the weak U.S. housing market.

"The debtors' home inventory is growing, and growing more quickly, the homes stay in inventory longer, and many homes must be sold at a loss," Sirva said in a court filing. "These factors have resulted in lower revenues and profitability and increased use of working capital, which has in turn adversely affected the debtors' liquidity."

On Nov. 9, Sirva said a write-down, a loss on home sales, and losses from taking homes into inventory contributed to a $10.4 million third-quarter loss, on revenue of $1.17 billion.