PG&E Investor Opposes Bankruptcy Move -- WSJ
January 18 2019 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Peg Brickley
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (January 18, 2019).
BlueMountain Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund with a
significant stake in PG&E Corp., has challenged the utility's
board over a plan to resort to bankruptcy to tackle wildfire
damages that PG&E estimates could run as high as $30
billion.
The California utility announced Monday it would file for
bankruptcy, jolting BlueMountain and other investors that bought up
the stock in 2018 before the state's deadly Camp Fire, which killed
86 people. The utility's equipment is suspected of having triggered
some wildfires.
The announcement slammed the already depressed price of
PG&E's shares and bonds. The shares, which were selling for
$48.80 just before the Camp Fire broke out in November, fell 9.5%
to $6.36 on Thursday, marking a three-month drop of 87%.
BlueMountain, which reported owning 4.3 million shares as of
Sept. 30, now owns about 11 million shares, according to a person
familiar with the firm's holdings. The hedge fund contends the
utility's board is moving too quickly toward a chapter 11
bankruptcy, destroying value unnecessarily.
"The company has ample liquidity to operate its business; the
amount of liabilities remains uncertain and contestable; there are
meaningful probabilities of offsets from settlements and cost
recovery; and any potential liabilities are payable in the future,"
BlueMountain wrote in a letter to PG&E's board of directors on
Thursday.
In the wake of California's devastating wildfires, bankruptcy is
the only workable option for the utility, said PG&E spokeswoman
Lynsey Paulo.
"Following a comprehensive review with the assistance of outside
experts and at management's recommendation, the PG&E board
unanimously determined that initiating a chapter 11 reorganization
for both the utility and the corporation is the only viable option
for PG&E and will maximize the value of the enterprise for the
benefit of all stakeholders, " Ms. Paulo said Thursday.
It isn't clear what effect BlueMountain's objection might have
on the push toward bankruptcy court. Law firm Weil Gotshal &
Manges LLP, a chapter 11 heavyweight, is already on board, and the
utility said it would be filing before the end of the month.
Shareholders generally fare poorly in bankruptcy, their holdings
often wiped out because creditors are paid before equity owners.
BlueMountain also cited the likelihood that bankruptcy will boost
PG&E's financing costs.
In PG&E's case, creditors will include victims of a series
of wildfires that are believed to be linked to the utility's
equipment or practices. Without a final court determination that
PG&E is to blame for the fires, and with no trial record to
establish the range of verdicts the utility could face, the damage
estimates are guesses and not a basis for bankruptcy, according to
the hedge fund.
BlueMountain urged PG&E's board to take another look at the
numbers, weigh other options and draw on its borrowing power and
insurance coverage before admitting insolvency. Until recently,
PG&E had investment-grade credit ratings, BlueMountain said,
and regulators and lawmakers were open to working with the utility
to overcome its problems. Bankruptcy will bring hopes of a state
rescue to an end, the hedge fund said.
Some lawyers who have sued PG&E for wildfire damages also
maintain that bankruptcy isn't the best way out of trouble.
The utility needs to be taken apart and recreated, but
regulators, not a bankruptcy court, should be in charge of reform,
said Amanda Riddle, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers.
A PG&E bankruptcy would keep most of management in place,
delaying a shake-up of the utility by regulators, Ms. Riddle said
in an email earlier this month. "It would allow existing
management, which has proven beyond all doubt that it is either
safety-incompetent or driven entirely by greed, to stay at their
current jobs that much longer," she said.
PG&E said Sunday, before announcing its intention to file
for bankruptcy, that Chief Executive Geisha Williams was stepping
down and John Simon, the company's general counsel since 2017,
would serve as interim CEO as the utility's board of directors
conducts a search for a new chief.
Write to Peg Brickley at peg.brickley@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 18, 2019 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
PG&E (NYSE:PCG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
PG&E (NYSE:PCG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024