How many bankruptcy cases have shareholder committees?
Very few. It’s not appropriate in every case. But we looked back at hundreds of bankruptcies since 1986 in excess of $500 million and found only a half a dozen equity committees total. Q: What do you hope to accomplish on behalf of shareholders on the equity committee? A: Basically, I try to negotiate for them the most equity that I can. There are a lot of variations on that theme. Some of the debt might be converted to equity. The old shareholders could end up owning anywhere from 0% to 100% of the equity. The bigger picture is that I think it’s important for shareholders to know that they had representation and fought a good fight. If, at the end of the day, you don’t get anything, at least you know you tried. What I don’t understand is how large mutual funds that are fiduciaries can so quickly walk away. Often times, it’s difficult for us to rally the troops when there’s a filing, and we think the company has a chance of solvency and an economic recovery for shareholders. The instit
