Lehman Brothers update
Introduction
Meteor continues to work on behalf of investors with lawyers in various jurisdictions to advise on legal matters surrounding the insolvency of Lehman and the ongoing administration of the Lehman estate.
The underlying investments ("the Securities") in respect of our Lehman affected Plans were issued by either Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. B.V., ("LBT") based in the Netherlands or Lehman Brothers Securities N.V ("LBS") based in the Dutch Antilles. In both cases, the guarantor of the obligations of LBT and LBS to meet the payments due from the Securities was Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ("LBHI"). The money raised by LBS and LBT through the issue of the Securities was lent to LBHI.
This update is to provide information on the main developments with regard to the claims processes in respect of LBHI, LBT and LBS.
Current Situation
On 1st September 2011, the Court in New York approved the Disclosure Statement in respect of the most recent Plan submitted to the Court by LBHI and other US based Lehman entities.
- The Disclosure Statement is being be used to elicit support for the Plan and has been sent to all creditors who have submitted claims to LBHI.
- The Disclosure Statement with ballot papers has been received by Meteor and we have voted in favour of the Plan. The deadline for the receipt of ballot papers is 4th November 2011.
- A Confirmation Hearing has been scheduled for 6th December 2011 at the New York Court. The Hearing will determine whether the current Plan will be accepted as the basis for making payments to creditors who have made a valid claim. The results of the ballot will be taken into account in the Court's considerations.
- It seems likely that the current Plan will be confirmed but this is not guaranteed.
- We have also received details of the calculation of our allowable claim to LBHI and have been asked if we have any objection to the way in which allowable claims have been calculated. When we submitted our claims to LBHI, we asked an independent third party to calculate our claims. As the calculations of LBHI are within reasonable tolerances of the figures we calculated we have raised no objections.
- It should be noted that the allowable claim amounts are based on the values of the different securities issued to us by LBS and LBT as at the date Lehman Brothers entered bankruptcy protection and not the amounts originally invested in those securities.
- The LBHI Plan estimates that holders of such securities will receive 11.2% of their allowable claim amounts.
- Both LBS and LBT have submitted claims to LBHI and both have indicated an intention to vote in favour of the Plan, subject to some clarification of some aspects related to their claims. LBT had opposed previously submitted plans.
- LBS and LBT have both stated that they will not ask for formal claims to be made to them until at least 2012. The Administration/Liquidation processes for LBS and LBT are highly dependent on the development of the LBHI administration.
Future Events
Assuming that the Plan is confirmed we anticipate the following events:
- Meteor receives a distribution from the LBHI liquidation
- LBS and LBT will receive distributions from the LBHI liquidation
- LBS and LBT start their respective formal claims procedures
- Meteor makes claims to LBS and LBT
- Meteor receives distributions from LBS and LBT
It is unlikely that the progress of the respective LBS and LBT claims will progress at the same pace or that their respective distributions will be equivalent to one another.
As distributions are received they will be allocated to your Account and we will notify you accordingly.
Please note that the timing and order of the future events are not definitive and the above is only a very brief outline. It is still not possible to provide an idea of the total that may be distributed through the various liquidation processes and all future events depend on the outcome of the Confirmation Hearing on 6th December 2011 and, assuming the Plan is confirmed, the subsequent implementation of the Plan.
General
This update concentrates on the major developments and the current status of the claims. A further version of the update which provides a more detailed explanation of the current situations in respect of LBHI, LBS and LBT is available on our website www.meteoram.com
If you receive this update and are not the beneficial owner of the Lehman securities, for example if you are the trustee of a SIPP, please make the beneficial owner aware of the content of this update.
This update is based on information received by Meteor up to and including 28th October 2011.
For a more detailed version of this update please click here