Be very skeptical of everything you read on this board. Most of the investors here have already made up their minds to take the gamble, and are doing everything they can to make themselves feel better about a very risky position.
Yes, in a bankruptcy / liquidation type scenario, equity investors AKA shareholders come LAST, and only get money if the debt is paid off and there is money left over. The monitor is trying to make it very clear that that scenario is unlikely. If the bidders had bid highly enough to buy the company, and assets, and leave money for shareholders, they would have been able to close a deal at the end of July. That didn't happen.
What the monitor is trying to do now is get a good enough bid to ensure that debtholders are paid off and the facility remains operational, thus ensuring local employment. And even that much is in doubt, since only 2 of the bids out of 11 were for anything other than liquidation.
Probably most of the liquidators are bidding pennies on the dollar; only the 2 strategic bidders *might* cover the full debt. And as per the last PR and monitor's report, those haven't even been finalized yet, and may not be. It is wishful thinking to believe that they would bid enough extra to make gamblers here wealthy. In June, yes, it was a halfway reasonable gamble. But not after what happened at the end of July. Could it happen? Yes. But the monitor is saying loud and clear that it is unlikely.
