bewildered, (5/11/2009 7:01:08 PM)

At last something good has emerged out of the Sem Group meltdown. From what I know Panzer is a capable & effective leader who has a habit of surrounding himself with good people. Good for him & the people involved.

Elderton, (5/11/2009 8:29:43 PM)

This same group wanted to buy all of SemMaterials back in August '08 and probably would have paid 100's of millions for it. However, Rhone's attempts were stonewalled by the incompetance of the current SemGroup executive branch and the "A" team (partners)and the opportunity for a quick sale was ignored. So, nine months later, a small piece is sold for 6.5 million. I can't believe SemGroup creditors aren't upset about that.

I whole-heartedly agree with bewildered. It is a blessing for the few that have survived.

Elderton, (5/11/2009 8:34:47 PM)

And thank you Rod Walton for not mentioning that according to court records, SemMaterials loses $15 million per month. It was a falacy anyway.

Hawktalk, (5/11/2009 9:58:06 PM)

Glad to see Frank back in charge of a smaller Group.

bewildered, (5/11/2009 10:27:30 PM)

Elderton: If I were a creditor& weren't already upset, I would be when I heard about the group's proposal to buy SemMaterials back in August of last year.

wow, (5/12/2009 7:54:59 AM)

Elderton

Did you read any of the two articles on the subject written by Rod. He mentions in both, that SemMaterials lost 15 MM per month. Not a fallacy by the way, that is the net if you are not conducting normal business.

OnTulsaTime, (5/12/2009 11:05:49 AM)

Any word of rehiring those hard working loyal employees booted out the door???

Glad to see FP back in the game.

bewildered, (5/12/2009 11:46:36 AM)

On Tulsa Time:

I hope Panzer's new company will have room for some of the misplaced employees. While the new company may not have room for or need all the employees that were laid off, hopefully some can come back if they desire. Of course many have found other employment & won't be available. From what I know of Panzer, he has his people's best intrest @ heart, so I'll bet he'll bring back who he can if there's a fit in the new company.

black gold, (5/12/2009 4:40:27 PM)

I think this first year will have to be a "repair year" as in repair the damage done by the fine people who led SemMaterials through bankruptcy, canceled contracts, fired 200+ employees and darn near ruined their paving business for this season. Perhaps when the dust settles and the books, accurate and honest, are posted at the close of the year, some of those people let go in August of '08 and in early '09 will be brought back. But many of those people are highly educated, experienced, renowned people in the industry and they have moved on to other things. They won't come back for cheap and they may not want to come back after all that has happened. Let's hope they are not working in competition with this new company. Materials will most likely be a better company with Panzer in control and without the burden of the terminalling agreement and the residual fuels business. Good riddance Kev and Zig. You won't be missed!!!!!! There are probably a few people who have been asked to join the new company who don't belong there. Let's hope management will see fit to weed the ranks of those who showed poor leadership during this past year and do so in a timely fashion. Run lean and run mean. YOu have a good product line, some quality people. Your product and your people will sell itself without the need for overpriced boondoggle type trips and "the sky is the limit" expense accounts that some at Sem are so fond of.(You know who you are.)

Elderton, (5/12/2009 5:21:27 PM)

To Wow:

ROFL. When this story was posted at 3PM yesterday (5/11), it had no mention of the $15 mil/month loss. I made my comment (3rd from top) last night. Today, what do you know? Mr. Walton strikes back with his fallacy machine. He is more than willing to perpetuate erroneus statements. There are dozens of people that he could verify with but that would require investigation and effort.

And yes wow it IS a fallacy. $15 mil/month is not correct. It is for February '09 but the asphalt business tends to slow down in winter (do I need to explain this?). Accurate reporting would be "SemMaterials lost $15 mil in February of this year, but this is normal due to the seasonality of the business." Saying "$15 mil/month" implies that it happened in Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, which is completely false because the company was producing major cash during those months.

black gold, (5/13/2009 6:18:33 AM)

to Elderton and wow:

I would be interested in knowing if that oft quoted $15 million/month loss including the terminaling contract, you know, the one that was set up after the tanks were taken away from SemMaterials and all money from the sale was funneled to someplace else besides SemMaterials books. Also, which side of the Materials equation was losing $$$. Was it the pavement products side or the commodity side? Seems to me the profits for a few years were made by the pavement products side while the commodity business was sucking air.

Elderton, (5/13/2009 8:51:09 AM)

black gold

I'm very certain the infamous $15 mil/month included the terminalling agreement which was a minimum of $5 mil/month. That agreement, IMO, was the single biggest barrier to the sale of SemMaterials. It was a noose around the company's neck. Also, I'm reasonably certain that much profit came from branded products (Novachip and others) because the asphalt price was high and volatile last year which drastically reduces commodity profits (some might have been sold at a loss).