In Re Board of Directors of Compañía General De Combustibles S.A.

269 B.R. 104, 47 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 447, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 1422, 38 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 168, 2001 WL 1382542
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 7, 2001
Docket19-10632
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 269 B.R. 104 (In Re Board of Directors of Compañía General De Combustibles S.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Board of Directors of Compañía General De Combustibles S.A., 269 B.R. 104, 47 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 447, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 1422, 38 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 168, 2001 WL 1382542 (N.Y. 2001).

Opinion

Supplemental Memorandum Decision Continuing Preliminary Injunction

BURTON R. LIFLAND, Bankruptcy Judge.

The Petitioners, the Boards of Directors of Sociedad Comercial del Plata, S.A. (“SCP”) and Compañía General de Combustibles, S.A. (“CGC” and together with SCP, the “Debtors”), as the representatives of SCP and CGC in “Concursos Pre-ventivos,” or reorganization proceedings (the “CGC Concursos”), pending in the Federal Commercial Trial Court No. 15 in and for the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina (the “Argentine Court”), seek a continuation of the preliminary injunction granted by this Court’s bench ruling on January 17, 2001. Reef Exploration, Inc. (“Reef’) and Hess Energy Trading Company LLC (“Hess” and together with Reef, the “Objectors”) object to the continuation of the injunction as to their claims. Hess also moves to vacate the injunction.

After a hearing on October 11, 2001 this Court found sufficient basis to continue the injunction and rendered a bench decision, (See Transcript of Hearing dated October 11, 2001 at 77, 80) but, in light of intervening case law issued subsequent to January 17, 2001, I instructed the parties that a supplemental decision addressing the legal arguments of the Objectors .relating to the Second Circuit’s recent decision in The Bank of New York v. Treco (In re Treco), 240 F.3d 148 (2d Cir.2001) would follow.

Background

SCP is a holding company organized under the laws of Argentina. Among other things, it owns CGC, an oil company, and Tren de la Costea (“TDC”), a transportation and entertainment company. On September 8, 2000, SCP, CGC, TDC and Solfina, S.A. (“Solfina”) 1 filed voluntary petitions (the “CGC Concursos”) for the commencement of Concurso Preventivos in the Federal Commercial Trial Court (the “Argentine Court”) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. By order dated November 2, 2000, the Argentine Court granted the order for relief for all four debtors. See In re: Reorganization Proceedings, Tren de la Costa S.A., Debtor, Case No. 80980. The CGC Concursos is the largest reorganization proceeding in Argentine history. *107 On December 28, 2000, the Petitioners commenced this ancillary ease under Section 304 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) and moved this court for an order enjoining all persons from continuing or commencing any action against SCP or CGC or their property in the United States. The motion was opposed by several creditors including The Bank of New York 2 , Reef and Hess.

Following the hearing on January 17, on February 1, 2001, this Court signed an order granting a preliminary injunction over the objections finding, inter alia, that the arguments set forth by CGC’s creditors were premature and based on speculation as to what might transpire in the CGC Concursos. The injunction was without prejudice to any creditor’s right to move to vacate the injunction and was to remain in effect pending a further hearing. The continuation hearing was originally scheduled for July 12, 2001, and subsequently adjourned by agreement of the parties until October 11, 2001.

Concursos Preventivos

A Concursos Preventivos under Argentine law is similar to a Chapter 11 reorganization. Upon the filing of a petition, an automatic statutory stay is in place which prohibits creditors from taking actions against the debtor or its assets or from pursuing claims against the debtor outside the reorganization proceedings. A creditors committee, made up of the debtor’s largest unsecured creditors, is appointed. In the CGC Concursos, the bankruptcy judge appointed a committee of creditors that includes foreign members, including The Bank of New York. 3 The judge also appointed three independent accounting firms to assist in the reorganization proceedings. One functions as a “Receiver,” who monitors and supervises the finances of the businesses and two others, called Allowing Trustees or “Síndicos,” handle claims administration and review the companies’ claims. However, it is the judge in the Concurso who makes the final determination as to whether or not to recognize the claim. If objections are submitted to a particular claim, the claim can not be verified, but can be determined admissible (which could be for an amount different from the face amount of the claim) or inadmissible by the Argentine Court. Any party in interest is entitled to request an “incidente de revisión,” or ancillary review proceeding (“Revisión”) with respect to the Argentine Court’s determination as to admissibility or inadmissibility of any claim within 20 business days after the ruling. The Revisión process requires an eviden-tiary hearing and affords a creditor whose claim has been ruled inadmissible an opportunity to prove its claim on the merits before the Argentine Court.

In the CGC Concursos, alleged creditors, including Reef and Hess, submitted proofs of claim to the Síndico for review as part of the claims verification process. 4 CGC filed objections to claims of certain creditors, including Reef and Hess. In addition, other creditors filed objections to *108 the claims of Reef and Hess. 5 On August 13, 2001, the Argentine Court issued its ruling determining whether each claim was verified for purposes of voting and distribution.

The Argentine Court ruled that it could not admit Reefs claim without the presentation of evidence on the merits of its claim. The Argentine Court admitted a portion of Hess’s claim but ruled that a disputed portion of the claim could not be determined absent an evidentiary hearing.

Both Reef and Hess have filed motions in the Argentine Court to commence Revi-sión proceedings. After their opportunities for full evidentiary hearings on the merits of their claims in the Argentine Court, if Reef and Hess are dissatisfied with the Argentine Court’s decision, they will have recourse to appeals. During this process, Reef and Hess will retain all rights of creditors other than the ability to vote on a plan, including the right to object to the debtors’ various filings and proposals, and, if their claims are ultimately admitted, to share on a pari passu basis with other unsecured creditors.

The Debtors filed their proposed categorization of the verified and declared admissible creditors on August 28, 2001. Upon approval of the categorization of creditors by the Argentine Court, which was expected by early November, the debtors will commence negotiations with their creditors regarding a proposed reorganization plan. The plan proposal must provide that each creditor in a particular category must receive the same treatment. Disputed creditors whose claims are later verified must receive the same treatment as similarly situated creditors.

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269 B.R. 104, 47 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 447, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 1422, 38 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 168, 2001 WL 1382542, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-board-of-directors-of-compania-general-de-combustibles-sa-nysb-2001.