Tulsa World: SemGroup plans upcoming

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SemGroup plans upcoming
The company may have to revise its proposal, while a suitor resets his unveiling.

SUITOR
John Catsimatidis: He denies any wrongdoing and blames his plan's delay on the resistance of SemGroup officials and consultants.

By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
Published: 6/24/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 6/24/2009 4:15 AM

Complete coverage: Read all the stories and documents related to the SemGroup collapse.

SemGroup LP may have to revise the disclosure statement detailing a reorganization plan that will be the focus of a crucial hearing, while the bankrupt company's New York suitor is moving a meeting on his own proposal to the same day, according to reports Tuesday.

John Catsimatidis had scheduled Tuesday as the date to meet with bankers and other creditors to unveil his reorganization plan for SemGroup. The meeting, however, was postponed until Thursday in New York.

Thursday also is the day that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon will hear arguments in Wilmington, Del., on the adequacy of SemGroup's official disclosure statement. If approved, creditors could vote on the reorganization plan this summer.

SemGroup's U.S. term lender group joined many opponents of the disclosure statement in a court filing Tuesday.

The term lenders argued that SemGroup did not adequately disclose information on certain claims and that the company will tinker with the statement's details in the near future.

"The U.S. term lender group has been informed by the debtors that the debtors intend to file a revised disclosure statement," the objection reads, "in order to reflect the impact of the court's recent decisions regarding the relative priority of the liens

and claims of the prepetition lenders and the producers on certain inventories."

Neither SemGroup officials nor Catsimatidis would comment on the changed meeting date or any specifics about his plan.

SemGroup's in-house plan, filed in bankruptcy court last month, proposes that the midstream oil and gas company emerge as a public entity in the third quarter.

The reorganization would offer $2.27 billion in equity and cash to creditors, with secured lenders such as banks originally holding most of SemGroup's stock, according to reports.

Many oil and gas producers have opposed the disclosure statement.

Their objections allege that SemGroup's plan does not answer questions about how much producers will be paid for oil and gas sold on credit to the company last summer.

Catsimatidis, a grocery chain billionaire, guided United Refining Co. through Chapter 11 in the late 1980s but has been countered by SemGroup executives, including CEO Terry Ronan. They allege that Catsimatidis has violated his confidentiality pact and tried to circumvent the fair bidding process, according to court records.

Catsimatidis has denied any wrongdoing and blamed his plan's delay on the resistance of Ronan and consultants hired by SemGroup during the bankruptcy.

The existence of Catsimatidis' own plan was revealed during a court hearing last week, but no details were published.

Catsimatidis currently does not have court standing to offer SemGroup's reorganization plan, but that could change if the company's version is rejected or amended.

Rod Walton 581-8457
rod.walton@tulsaworld.com By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "SemGroup plans upcoming," which was published on 6/23/2009.

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