JPM and EC meeting?
It will never happen.
The only discussions JPM will ever have with WMI in any boardroom or courtroom (Delaware, DC, or anywhere) will be with the WMI Board of Directors (BOD) and the WMI attorneys. The only assets that WMI own are whatever Solomon will find during their valuation. The Washington Mutual Bank assets, sold by the FDIC to JPM, will not be included. This is how the corporate veil works. Anything that WMI wants to recover from the sale of WMB will have to be outside of the BK court in Delaware.
The Equity Committee is not in discussions with JPM or FDIC now, and will not be in the future. Think of WMI as a car. The Board of Directors (BOD) is the driver of the car. The Equity Committee can only intervene in the direction the car is being driven by showing up as a flat tire (shareholders meeting), as a blown engine (true valuation by Solomon), or something similar. Solomon’s valuation will determine if the car is a rusty 1966 Volkswagen Beetle or a new Jaguar XJ. It is the BOD who will come to a ‘global understanding’ with all parties concerned and not the EC. Can a tire or an engine sit in the driver’s seat and drive a car? They can only get the driver’s attention and aggravate the driver until the driver agrees to go in the agreed upon direction.
The valuation of WMI by Solomon will not include the Washington Mutual Bank. If it does, they will be in violation of the sanctity of the corporate veil. The only things that the BOD, JPM, FDIC, Creditors, etc, are discussing are the variables of cash in the forms of NOL, taxes, $4B deposit, etc. It is probable (without Solomon’s valuation), that the current BOD of WMI is hiding assets in their valuation (draft POR). After the BOD executes the approved POR, by paying creditors, preferred stocks, and others determined by the court, the BOD wants the value of WMI to be close to zero. This will allow them to cancel commons. The BOD will then continue to fight claims, increasing the value of WMI as the court rejects each claim and redirects it to the other side of the corporate veil, which is JPM (WMB). This is why there was no balance sheet filed with the draft POR. The current BOD is waiting for the valuation by Solomon so that they can attempt to refute as much of it as possible. EOM
