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Lyondell Basell i creditori ... e le BANCHE!
Lyondell Creditors Seek Probe of Merger
Lyondell Chemical Co. creditors want to investigate the merger of Lyondell and Basell AF, which they say loaded the company with unmanageable debt while paying out $12 billion to Lyondell Chemical's former shareholders.
Unsecured creditors are asking a judge for power to subpoena the lenders that financed the buyout, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., as well as several former shareholders.
The committee representing the unsecured creditors said in court papers that it is investigating claims for a possible lawsuit over the buyout. The deal, committee lawyers said, "must and should be scrutinized."
Houston-based Lyondell Chemical and its U.S. affiliates filed for bankruptcy in January, a little more than a year after the December 2007 merger with Basell to form LyondellBasell Industries, which is owned by New York industrial group Access Industries.
The merger, which came at the height of the buyout boom, was funded entirely with debt financing, according to creditors, and saddled Lyondell Chemical and its affiliates with $20 billion in secured debt.
From the outset of the deal, creditors said, Lyondell Chemical struggled amid volatile commodity prices and falling demand for its products.
John Duggan, a managing director at UBS AG, one of the banks that financed the buyout, testified at a recent court hearing that lenders first learned of Lyondell Chemical's cash squeeze in mid-December and were "surprised." The banks went on to negotiate an $8 billion loan to support the company during its bankruptcy proceedings.
Besides Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the creditors committee plans to subpoena UBS, Merrill Lynch & Co. and ABN Amro, among other lenders. ABN Amro, UBS, Citigroup and Merrill are among Lyondell's largest secured creditors, which are owed $10.8 billion, according to court documents.
Goldman Sachs, UBS and Citigroup declined to comment. Representatives for ABN Amro and Merrill couldn't be reached Tuesday.
As part of the merger, about $12 billion was paid out to Lyondell Chemical's shareholders. Creditors want to subpoena three that owned more than 5% of Lyondell Chemical's common stock before the merger: money manager Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss Inc.; Barclays Global Investors, a unit of Barclays PLC; and hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners.
Barrow Hanley and Harbinger declined comment. Barclays couldn't be reached Tuesday
Lyondell Creditors Seek Probe of Merger
Lyondell Chemical Co. creditors want to investigate the merger of Lyondell and Basell AF, which they say loaded the company with unmanageable debt while paying out $12 billion to Lyondell Chemical's former shareholders.
Unsecured creditors are asking a judge for power to subpoena the lenders that financed the buyout, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., as well as several former shareholders.
The committee representing the unsecured creditors said in court papers that it is investigating claims for a possible lawsuit over the buyout. The deal, committee lawyers said, "must and should be scrutinized."
Houston-based Lyondell Chemical and its U.S. affiliates filed for bankruptcy in January, a little more than a year after the December 2007 merger with Basell to form LyondellBasell Industries, which is owned by New York industrial group Access Industries.
The merger, which came at the height of the buyout boom, was funded entirely with debt financing, according to creditors, and saddled Lyondell Chemical and its affiliates with $20 billion in secured debt.
From the outset of the deal, creditors said, Lyondell Chemical struggled amid volatile commodity prices and falling demand for its products.
John Duggan, a managing director at UBS AG, one of the banks that financed the buyout, testified at a recent court hearing that lenders first learned of Lyondell Chemical's cash squeeze in mid-December and were "surprised." The banks went on to negotiate an $8 billion loan to support the company during its bankruptcy proceedings.
Besides Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the creditors committee plans to subpoena UBS, Merrill Lynch & Co. and ABN Amro, among other lenders. ABN Amro, UBS, Citigroup and Merrill are among Lyondell's largest secured creditors, which are owed $10.8 billion, according to court documents.
Goldman Sachs, UBS and Citigroup declined to comment. Representatives for ABN Amro and Merrill couldn't be reached Tuesday.
As part of the merger, about $12 billion was paid out to Lyondell Chemical's shareholders. Creditors want to subpoena three that owned more than 5% of Lyondell Chemical's common stock before the merger: money manager Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss Inc.; Barclays Global Investors, a unit of Barclays PLC; and hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners.
Barrow Hanley and Harbinger declined comment. Barclays couldn't be reached Tuesday