This deal with dfa is not going to happen to many objections
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honolulu meadgold news ? we have none
Whoever your local is should be ashamed to call themselves teamsters then to even tell you that lie
More fake news
What plant or plants had the meeting?
We had a union meeting yesterday and were told the deal will go through on April 3rd. Courts approved a $36M payout for upper management, nice. Plan on losing Teamster healthcare, pensions, holidays and much more. ALL CBA's will be null and void on April 4th
Things should move fast between now and May. Bidding will be over. All of the appeals will likely be slapped down by the courts fairly quickly and by May we should know which plants will actually be bought by DFA (might be all on the original list- might be a few less), which plants (if any) are being bought by others, and which plants are closing.
And then the DOJ will file suit and DFA will start negotiations on which of the plants they just bought that they're going to sell or close to make the DOJ go away.
According to letter from teamsters they only have enough money to last till may
"If Dean Foods had a plan to restructure, then a big part of that restructuring plan would have been using the bankruptcy process to get out from pension obligations. But this was never about restructuring and common sense would tell you that Ch. 11 is being abused in order to benefit a select few"
Completely agree. Deans management hired a weak CEO to end this game of chicken, they seem to have really lost their way. The whole turnaround spiel in Jul-Aug last year was a lie. From Engles down to Beringause, they got no idea what they're doing. Bought WhiteWave only to sell it to Danone. Bought Uncle Matts in 2018, and can't turn a profit on it. How stupid can they get??
But they're not the only ones ABUSING the ch. 11 courts. Its back in fashion to pile on ridiculous loads of debt and then just sink companies. Same as back in the 80s with LBOs (leveraged buyouts) . Pickens and Icahn made their gazillions using these (illegal takeover) "strategies". Look at the oil patch. Dumb FKX like Sandridge, Chesapeake, are partying around as if there's no tomorrow. MDR filed a pre-pack in Jan. and its all over in just 2 months!!! creditors and shareholders be damned. Its a joke really this capitalism charade, and you gotta love how they line their pockets with MILLIONS stolen from the bankrupt estates. MDR is paying its soon-to-be-ex "execs" $105 million in retention bonuses........ this kind of fraud and theft would be unimaginable elsewhere but under our wise legal system, its all kosher. Wonderful America, stiff the poorest/weakest, gorge those greedy fat pigs.
"Deans is trying to use Ch. 11 to get rid of its pension obligations."
Well, yes and no. If Dean Foods had a plan to restructure, then a big part of that restructuring plan would have been using the bankruptcy process to get out from pension obligations. But this was never about restructuring and common sense would tell you that Ch. 11 is being abused in order to benefit a select few when Ch. 7 would have made more sense. And our legal system isn't based on common sense and this judge is indeed nothing more than a rubber stamp in a robe. So this really isn't Dean Foods trying to get out from pension obligations because Dean Foods won't exist after all of this wraps up. But it will result in the court being used to wipe out those pension obligations because no buyer is going to agree to take on those obligations themselves or pay enough in purchase price for those obligations to be covered.
Debt can be renegotiated. Noteholders, lenders, banks can all be persuaded to refinance on better terms. The main problem with Dean Foods is unfunded pensions and unions. No one wants that. Deans is trying to use Ch. 11 to get rid of its pension obligations. judge is too stupid to see that.
This same judge bamboozled several recent oil&gas bankruptcies – Sandridge Energy, Bristow Group, Weatheford, McDermott international, always siding with management and lenders while screwing stockholders and employees. What can you expect from a 2-bit lower court judge, they barely make 50-60K a year. They're just janitors to cleanup the mess of Corp. America. Companies and their lawyers know how to game the system. Anything they shove in this judge’s face he signs it. Pathetic how broken the judicial system really is.
Shareholders are already appealing to get this judge kicked off the case. Also letter from DOJ to shareholders lawyer stated this sale is a major antitrust issue and attempts by the DOJ to raise those concerns to Deans/DFA h as very been met with silence. DOJ prepared to file lawsuit in federal court if nothing changes.
So the bid procedures set out by Dean were approved today? What about competing offers any news on that? Any other biggie interested in buying this dump? Guess not. Nestle, Danone, Saputo etc. won't touch with this with a mile long pole.
Bidding is on April 13th with a bidding auction April 22nd if bids are close.final bids will be shown to the court April 29th for approval
Chances are high that DFA deal won't be approved - DOJ is watching and has flagged both Deans and DFA for numerous antitrust violations in the past. Fines, lawsuits, price fixing, the whole 9 yards. This particular court and its judge are indeed BIASED toward companies, management, lenders, banks, etc. and are completely anti-shareholder. Someone said he's a typical rubber-stamp judge, drinks whatever koolaid they give him (as long as its FREE!) . So that's why he threw out the Teamsters objection to KEIP and STIP, as well the Equity group's petition for an Equity Committee in the case. Unless someone can overrule him or get him off the case, Deans is dead as a doorknob.
Docket 1110 is a request and approval by the court to extend Dean Foods exclusivity to be able to file Chapter 11 plans for an additional 75 days- until May 25th.
Is company expecting DFA deal to not be approved or for it to be delayed or just hedging their bets? And is this an example of just how company friendly this court is or a pretty standard practice? Not a BK expert, so I have no idea.
Objections from bondholders and shareholders usually don't carry much weight. It's the antitrust and union objections that might sway the court's decision against the DFA deal.
Dean Foods should have been negotiating with the unions starting in November or December. While the negotiations would have been a sham, they could at least say "we tried and we didn't get anywhere and now we have no other alternative then to ask the court to force things our way". Too late for that now and it now give unions chance to say that company never tried to negotiate with us as it's required to do before deciding to cut us out.
And DOJ has weighed in saying that while they haven't come to a final decision, DFA hasn't been willing to respond to concerns that they have raised and they are leaning towards fighting this over antitrust concerns.
It looks like it after that last post that gave details about what was on that web site. I keep seeing may is the next big month to see what the conclusion will be