Well, I guess it’s all public now that Andy Beal, under the auspices of the Scotia-Redwood Foundation, made a $603 million dollar offer to encourage the note holders to push for an auction in the ongoing saga of PL’s Bankruptcy hearings.
Andy Beal, ahem, as in the guy that started Beal Bank during the S&L scandal, as in Beal Aerospace, and the infamous $100,000 equation? Is this the inventor of Market Pilgrim for yahoo, myspace, google, etc?
I am not so sure that we are all aware of what that may mean, of how the deal may actually go down, considering his home location in Dallas, and its proximity to neighboring Houston, home of Humboldt’s enemy No. 1 Charles Hurwitz.
Ah Texans, the boys who invest young and sleazy, buy low/sell high really do get to eat a lot of cake.
(to read a long rant relating to this, just go down to the cited section, where I ramble freely and without positive conclusion)
I suppose Hurwitz isn’t too upset by this option, potentially foreseeing an auction of MAXXAM’s PL/ScoPac holdings because of an offer by a fellow Texan with a knack for making things go his way at strategic times.
The guy has quite a reputation around Las Vegas, among other places. According to his wikipedia site, the guy holds a record for winning the most of any player in a single day of gambling, at $11.7 million. I suppose putting on a poker face and offering $603 million probably seems like a safe bet, especially if….you figure it out.
Why might he be positioning himself at 11 p.m. the night before the confirmation hearing with a surprise $600 million cash on hand to play to get an auction? I would love to hear your predictions.
According to the Times Standard
“
Late last night, a bid came in that may provide some weight to another plan pitched by the bond holders who hold a $714 million claim against Palco subsidiary Scotia Pacific’s 210,000 acres. Attorney Bill Greendyke with Bank of New York, representing the noteholders, said a company called Scotia Redwood Foundation has made a hard offer of $603 million, substantially more than what Marathon is willing to put up for the land. He said that Marathon and Mendocino Redwood are trying to force a plan on the bond holders.
”They don’t have standing to do what they want to do,” Greendyke said.
It later became clear that Scotia Redwood Foundation is a company formed by billionaire investor Andy Beal, who owns more of the timber bonds than anyone else. Scotia Pacific attorney Richard Doren said the Bank of New York suddenly increased its estimated value of the timberlands only after Mendocino Redwood entered the case — and then had one of its own noteholders come up with a perfect bid to match.
”It is the perfect Goldilocks evaluation,” Doren said.
Hmmm.
Well, alrighty then. Unfortunately I didn’t listen to the lawyers go at it in Corpus Christi today. More to report tomorrow. I would love to hear any juicy details from folks in the room.
Rant:
Judging the crowd from yesterday’s Humboldt County Supes meeting, most people around here are pretty focused on their own back yard (literally). Its understandable!
To even survive in the atmosphere of corporate climate control, how else can we act? To what end does it serve us to mark our families and our lives to the likes of political resistance, only to be rewarded with life long legal battles, very little financial security? Where is the community forum with resources to look at the root causes for community malfunction?
The folks who turned up to participate in the front lines of the code enforcement battles can only be applauded. I just want people to take it to the next level. Im concerned that the cycle of the growing season wraps folks into patterns that cannot be denied once entered. When does the community heat press down on corporate pundits that maneuver in this county freely, like Mr. Arkley?
When do so many folks stand up against corporate giants that really are destroying the wild places, the shoreline and the bay?
When are we going to storm these back rooms, be it undercover or in a more direct way, to influence the blueprints for our future?
They seem to think that they can continue making scheme after scheme to gamble away our legacy for generations to come.
I disagree. We should fight back.
See David Simpson’s first-hand account from the courtroom.
The people storming the Sups meeting may be playing right into Arkley’s hand.