Ben: I'm a new lurker on this thread (an excellent one - kudo's to all!) and really know nothing about IPIC or Intercardia, but I can suggest you not to worry about that scenario too much. If that sort of thing were possible, the tobacco companies would have done it a long time ago and left their liabilities in an empty shell. Any assets transfered to other corporate entities, or paid out in extraordinary dividends, or even cash bonuses to major employees, done with the purpose of screwing the creditors, would be grabbed by the bankruptcy court and turned over to the creditors.
However, I have seen companies do spinoffs for the purpose of creating a short squeeze; those spinoffs usually have few assets of any value - all the company is trying to do, in that case, is make life miserable for the shorts by creating a hard to borrow security that they may be forced to cover at an excessive price.
Perhaps there is a risk of that here, at most. But a company can't just bundle up its liabilities in a leaky rowboat, send it out to sea, and watch it sink, while management and shareholders sail off in their yacht. The courts won't let them. |
