Time Has Run Out?Court rules are very confusing, to keep the legal system intact. (That means the legal system's financial cashflow systems in place, that keep lawyers and clerks employed, making good money. Court houses aren't cheap buildings, so there has to be some financial incentive, to sponsor them.)
From what I can understand in Court notes, a person could appear, but information must be distributed in advance of the trial date:
"All responding material must be filed by noon on the Thursday that precedes the week of hearing."
It states in the Receivership Application:
"If you intend to give evidence in response to the application, you must reply by filing an affidavit or other evidence with the Court and serving a copy of that application or other evidence on the applicant(s) a reasonable time before the application is heard or considered."
This would concur with what has been stated elsewhere in court regulations.
This is a pretty short timeline to prepare constructive arguments, unless you already had arguments ready to file. The Receivership notice, intentionally requests a short timeframe for approval, so as not to give other parties too much time to prepare arguments against it. (Must not let the proletariat rise up against, the system.)
So where things could stand for possible objections:
1. Probably doesn't hurt to have a few angry shareholders show up at the hearing, just so the judge sees that people have been impacted by these actions.
2. The Ad Hoc Group may be planning to file an objection to the whole scharade. If all the offers are substantially above the money owed to Secured Creditors, and the oil price is still strengthening, there is no harm in extending the process, to try and get more value for everyone. They would be in the best shape to file an objection, of course not knowing what exactly they are objecting to, given the confidential nature of the offers.
3. Another company might file an objection, based on the grounds that time was too short to finalize the final offer, without a proper reserves report. I haven't seen many deals in Calgary that are only given three business days to come up with a final offer. December 15th was a Thursday, and December 20th was a Tuesday.
The objection could state they wanted to work with the Ad Hoc Group, to get more value for everyone, but needed time to do so. Another company, would have lawyers available, that properly know the court rules and procedures. This might be the best bet, if someone else wants the assets, and is prepared to bid more, based on strengthening prices.
4. Some silent shareholder's group is trying to file an objection. But why wouldn't management try to recover some value, and raise an objection? Considering some of the previous management was buying stock at high prices, so is also taking a loss on their shares, yet they coudn't even file for CCAA, to buy more time, tells me either they are very incompetent, or else they are looking to invest in a "new" company, that will emerge with the shedding of all share capital, and some debt, that has a better chance of recouping some value. Just speculation, but hard to say why management couldn't fight more. We'll see if there are any other angry shareholders groups out there, that that plan to show up in Court, yet don't even advertise their anger, on Stockhouse.
We'll see what happens at the Court House, on Wednesday afternoon. Anybody that is planning to contest, would already have submitted some information for the Judge to review. I think for us common people, other than showing up for moral support, there is very little we could contribute, at this late stage.
(We'll talk more about the potential Class Action Director's lawsuit, and how to get a payout from their Director's insurance, in the future...)