It's all over but the shouting.... :-)
'Vulture-Capital' firms (recent investors in Chrysler's distressed debt), who had opposed the bankruptcy reorganization... begin to dwindle away like snow on a warm Spring day.
(Down to just a pitiful few remnants already and - I predict - even fewer before 10 AM tomorrow.)
Bankruptcy Judge rules that they cannot remain anonymous in a public proceeding like bankruptcy court.
Chrysler Dissidents Must Reveal Identity, Judge Says (Update1)
By Tiffany Kary
bloomberg.com
May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC dissident lenders must reveal their identities by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, a bankruptcy judge in New York ruled today.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez forced the group to file a list of its members publicly, denying their request to reveal their identities only to the bankruptcy court. Gonzales said the lenders have no evidence that keeping their identities private would help protect them from threats of violence. The group seeks to block an auction of most company assets to an entity managed by Fiat SpA.
Thomas Lauria, a lawyer for the group, told Gonzalez today that the group has been exposed to “undue reputational damage, and threats of violence.” He said criticism of the group was exceptional, because it came from U.S. President Barack Obama.
Gonzales said criticism is inherent in any bankruptcy proceeding, and Obama shouldn’t be singled out as an exceptional party given the government’s involvement in Chrysler’s bankruptcy.
Robert W. Hamilton, a lawyer for Chrysler, said that the threats couldn’t be taken seriously, as they were postings on an Internet message board affiliated with the Washington Post.
“The only evidence they have provided is a series of four or five anonymous rants on a Washington Post Web site,” Hamilton said. “Anyone with a passing familiarity with the hyperbolic rants on such boards on the Internet would not take such comments seriously.”
Dwindling Number
The dissident lenders have dwindled in number and now hold only half the portion of a $6.9 billion loan they did, a court filing shows.
A lawyer representing JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest lender on the loan, and other lenders in favor of the deal, said last week the dissidents held about 10 percent of its value, less than $700 million. Now those still in the group, who plan to oppose the auction at a hearing today, own only about $300 million, the holdouts said in a bankruptcy court filing.
In the filing, the lenders told the judge in charge of Chrysler’s bankruptcy that the carmaker’s plan to auction its best assets later this month was unfair because it prevents creditors from using claims like a loan to make a non-cash bid..... |
