Led by Oppenheimer Funds and Stairway Capital, the groupmembers have declined to restructure their debt at a steepdiscount. The group has saidit has not taken bailout money from the government, adding thatthe large banks, which agreed to the Chrysler bankruptcy plan,do not represent its interests because of their participationin the government support program. "The bondholders would like to be made whole and they havea pretty powerful argument." The senior lender group, which calls itself the ChryslerNon-TARP Lenders, holds more than $295 million principal amountof the senior debt, according to the filing. "The bankruptcy rules are pretty clear -- if you want tosell assets in a bankruptcy, the assets are used to paycreditors in a particular order and that order should not beviolated without permission from the creditors," Gabe Fried,founder of Streambank LLC, an intellectual property consultingfirm, told Tuesday's bankruptcy hearing. Lawyers said the hold-out creditors have the law on theirside in their opposition to the current plan, which proposesmaking Chrysler's union the largest shareholder of the newcompany. The firm said it knows of senior lenders who have notconsented to Chrysler's current proposal but are declining tojoin the group, "as a consequence of concerns stemming frompublicity of these chapter 11 cases." The White House on Wednesday said the court's decision"gives us further confidence that Chrysler's bankruptcy will bequick and orderly." CONTROVERSY Bankruptcy professionals said Chrysler may complete a quicksale of its stronger operations, but they expect a fight overthe ownership of the new company that is created out of thattransaction. The number of participants in the dissenting group hasdropped to nine, according to court documents filed onWednesday by law firm White & Case, which is representing thegroup of senior lenders.
The approvalhelps clear the way for a deal with Italy's Fiat (FIA.MI). At the same hearing, JudgeGonzalez also approved the company's plan for an auction ofmost of its assets, over the group's objections. But Judge Arthur Gonzalez, who is overseeing Chrysler'sbankruptcy case in Manhattan, ruled on Tuesday that theparticipants must be revealed. The lenders had also asked the bankruptcy court tokeep the names unpublished, saying they feared harm to theirprofessional reputations or even their families. About 20 senior lenders had opposed the Chrysler plan,saying the proposed bidding process was "designed to prevent,not encourage, competitive bidding" and did not "maximize thesale price". Karoland other lawyers said the proposed restructuring would favorChrysler's union without the agreement of lenders, who legallyget paid back ahead of unsecured creditors such as workers. "We're now engaged in social engineering," said SheonKarol, a restructuring specialist with CRG Partners LLC.
While criticized by President Barack Obama for slowing downthe restructuring process, bankruptcy professionals said thegovernment is violating laws that determine the order ofpayments in bankruptcy. * Participants drop out of Non-TARP Lenders group Stocks | Bonds | Global Markets | Funds News | ETFs News | Private Capital | Bankruptcy * Group holds $295 mln principal amount senior debt * White house says confident of "prompt" sale process * Lawyers say hold-outs have powerful legal case (Adds details on concern about deal structure, White Housecomments, bond price details) By Chelsea Emery NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - More than half of the partiesthat had opposed Chrysler's plan for a sale involving Fiat havedropped out of the group prior to a deadline to reveal theiridentity as public and political pressure grows to restructurethe automaker quickly. The MMS estimates the outer continental shelf of theBeaufort holds 8.22 billion barrels of technically recoverableoil and 27.64 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.The MMS estimates that the Chukchi's outer continental shelfholds 15.38 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 76.77trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas (Editing by Christian Wiessner) Stocks Bonds France. Shell last year spent $2.1 billion on high bids for Chukchileases, part of a record-setting $2.66 billion lease sale. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, whichtossed out the five-year leasing program under which Shell andother companies acquired their Chukchi Sea exploration rights. Shell officials have also said they hope to startexploration drilling in Alaska's Chukchi Sea next year.However, those plans are clouded by an April 17 ruling from theU.S.
The sitewas formerly known as Hammerhead, and drilling in the 1980s byShell and others resulted in the discovery But Hammerhead wasabandoned for economic reasons. The Sivulliq prospect, within the territory acquired byShell, is known to hold technically recoverable oil. If they want to have anexploration plan, the one they have right now isn't goodenough." Shell spent $84 million in 2005 and 2007 acquiring BeaufortSea leases. "We're certainly happy to hear that they've withdrawn theirplan for exploration," said Betsy Beardsley of the AlaskaWilderness League."It's no surprise. A spokeswoman for one of the environmental litigants saidShell's move was good news. The companydecided, ultimately, that scaling back its Beaufort explorationplans was a better strategy, he said.
The San Francisco-basedcourt in March vacated its November ruling but did not indicatewhat decision would follow "It could have gone either way," Smith said. Shell could have waited for the 9th Circuit Court toreverse its ruling from six months ago and allow exploration toproceed under the old plan, Smith said. Like the previous plan, the 2010 plan will focus onSivulliq, said company spokesman Curtis Smith. It will spanone year instead of three, use a single drilling rig instead oftwo and seek to drill two wells in a single year instead offour, officials said. Shell's 2010 exploration plan will be much reduced from theearlier proposed program, company officials said.