Roman, yes I did listen to the hearing and was prepared to speak if given the opportunity. No your motion was not mentioned, as the debtor made a verbal motion which carries more weight.
Roman if you would not mind, let me share a few of my thoughts regarding ATP; this by no means is suggesting anyone purchase ATP common or preferred shares, there is a greater chance you will lose all of your money than gain a dime from these investments. Having said that, I just purchased 100 thousand common shares to add to my holdings of preferred and bonds, why did I do this; I want a voice as a common holder, an owner of the company, my preferred holding gave me no voice and or vote.
“Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal has agreed to pour $1 billion in BP oil spill recovery money into Louisiana's "rainy day" fund and an elderly trust fund that was drained to plug budget gaps.The governor's office announced Friday that Jindal signed the bill that contains the oil spill money plan, along with other short-term maneuvers to keep next year's budget balanced.”
This is a bill that the state legislators have developed and passed, they believe the State will receive this money and their claim against BP is not a “pipe dream”. What makes this legislation “different” is the following;
Louisiana is expected to receive as much as billions of dollars from BP to pay for the state's claims of economic damage caused by the massive 2010 spill. Those dollars are separate from other civil penalties from violations of environmental laws, money that's required to be set aside for coastal restoration and protection projects. The claims are the subject of ongoing federal litigation, and it's unclear when any of the money might be available to the state.
First, this would be monies from the current suit ATP is a party too in New Orleans. My point, if the State of Louisiana believes it will be paid “billions” in Economic damages, why should we not believe that ATP will also be paid. We have to convince the new trustee that ATP should also be paid, which could pay all creditors in full and leave “billions” of dollars for the corporation.
Second, what is the ATP BP claim really worth in economic loss, Court document 1575, “In January 2013, ATP, with the assistance of the Firms, submitted a claim to BP under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for loss of profits and earning capacity as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Spill in an amount “not less than” $3,011,534,889.00 (the “OPA Claim”).
Through the course of the bankruptcy ATP has “lost” $3.636 billion of asset value. This loss was after the suit filing, add that to the “not less than” $3.011 billion, the economic loss claim would grow to $6.647 billion, with a chance this could be doubled. The chance of any pre-petition creditors getting paid from the remaining ATP assets is slim to none! They have nothing to lose by waiting for the results of the suit. They have to be convinced waiting is their best option.
Third, the DIP has to be neutralized with their remaining $200 million debt. They may demand the balance of the estate for payment. We need to remind the trustee of this rare situation where the ATP’s BP claim could pay all creditors in full, leaving a substantial balance to the corporation and this is important, push for the hiring of Togat Segal, since this is already in the works. Togat Segal also needs to investigate the total Chapter 11 process, payments made to professional, payments made to the DIP and why the Chapter 11 deception was not filed as Chapter 7, when the only plan developed was a plan of liquidation and “not” reorganization. I believe this to be an abuse of our legal system and the laws that congress has passed. As only the DIP have been paid.
Fourth, the equity holders need a voice and a new board of directors needs to be appointed, as the old board have all left the building. If the BP claim is awarded in excess of $6 billion dollars, the board needs to protect the rights of the equity holders, who are the legal owners of the corporation. The valuable tax attributes of the corporation also need to be preserved, which there is a current court order for that preservation. That order needs to be respected. It also needs to be made clear that there is a chance the corporation will benefit substantially from the BP claim and the owner’s rights need to be protected.
And last, to me this is a new ballgame and all of us equity holders need to contact the Chapter 7 Trustee. Do not think for one minute there is a “professional” protecting you ATP ownership rights. All of the professional managers including officers of the corporation are gone, that is a good thing, they should have been fired and the board replaced with the Chapter 11 deception filing. Remember the names of all these folks, the only party benefiting for this Chapter 11 deception were the post-petition DIP lenders.
Our professional management team blamed the Chapter 11 filing on the BP oil spill, than they gave away all of our assets in the liquidation deception to one post-petition lender, without trying to preserve our assets until our claim against BP had been resolved. Yes this would have taken years, but the cause was BP, the effect was a Chapter 11 reorganization filing, the deception was Chapter 7 liquidation and the result was ATP asset value today is less than $3 million dollars and “no” pre-petition creditors were paid one dime, $3.6 billion dollars of assets gone. How does our legal system let this happen? Especially when we see Court document 1575, “In January 2013, ATP, with the assistance of the Firms, submitted a claim to BP under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for loss of profits and earning capacity as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Spill in an amount “not less than” $3,011,534,889.00 (the “OPA Claim”).
Why not less than? Because the cost of this bankruptcy, including lost profits can be added to the claim. Todays “not less than” should be $6.64 billion. The trustee needs to understand this, we as equity holders need to remind him and the court of this fact.
In closing, court document 0001 shows at the time of filing there were 560 preferred holders and 12,300 common stock holders; how about this screen outside the bankruptcy court in Houston. The 12,860 owners of the ATP standing outside the court with signs, and let us also include all of the pre-petition creditors who didn’t see a dime of the $3.6 billion dollar assets value, all holding signs that say “How can this happen in America, $3.6 billion in assets vaporized by post-petition lenders and “professionals”. “Pre-petition Creditors and Equity holders alike got screwed by our legal system and in the process didn’t even get,” just a little kiss”.
As now the case is in Chapter 7 with a US trustee, I will be asking Louisiana Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter along with Representative Steve Scalise how this could possibly happen in the United States, Chapter 11 deception to benefit just one creditor and that creditor was post-petition, $3.6 billion in assets gone!
