Dime Bancorp Litigation Tracking Warrants (NasdaqNM:DIMEZ)
Trading price 12/12/2006 - 15 cents
A lawsuit was filed against the United States government way back in January of 1995 by Anchor Bancorp, which later merged with Dime Bancorp... Between 1982 and 1985, Anchor acquired 8 failing savings and loan operations. Four of the acquisitions involved financial assistance from the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC).
Liabilities in these transactions exceeded assets by $650 million. Anchor alleged that FSLIC agreed that this sum could be recorded as goodwill, and that Anchor would not have made the acquisitions if this had not been the case.
Enacted in 1989, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act required that the aforementioned goodwill be eliminated immediately. The company argues that this action placed severe restrictions on its activities and forced the company to sell valuable assets under liquidation-like circumstances.
Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) bought out Dime Bancorp several years ago and inherited Dime Bancorp's lawsuit. The DIMEZ financial instruments are termed warrants, but in fact, are more akin to rights. They offer the buyer an opportunity to receive common stock if a particular event not related to price of the common stock occurs. There is no exercise price, nor is there a definitive expiration date... the warrants expire shortly after litigation has been concluded. The warrants offer purchasers the opportunity to receive 85% of a settlement after taxes and lawyers fees have been taken out. The warrants trade as DIMEZ, although the underlying stock for the warrants is Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM).
The number of shares of Washington Mutual that a holder of the DIMEZ warrants is entitled to after settlement of the litigation is difficult to determine and is dependent on several variables. The trial itself was concluded in July 2005 and we are awaiting the court's decision. The court could award anything from $0 to $983 million. If the judge were to award the maximum amount, it would make the DIMEZ warrants worth somewhere in excess of $6 …or 40 times the 15 cents they are presently trading at. Far fetched you say? Well, in another S&L breach of contract lawsuit filed against the U.S. government, that of Glendale Federal Bank, Chief Judge Loren A. Smith found that the government was liable for $908.9 million in damages!
