The Committee has been an active participant in the Title III cases and has achieved significant results on behalf of unsecured creditors of the Title III Debtors. Among other things:
- The Committee negotiated a settlement with the Oversight Board that provides significant recoveries for general unsecured creditors under the proposed plan of adjustment of HTA. Under the Committee’s settlement, such unsecured creditors will receive $48 million in cash consideration, representing a projected effective recovery rate of 19%. Moreover, as part of the Committee’s efforts and the global settlement reached, the Committee was able to set the threshold for Convenience Class treatment (which provides such creditors with a 100% recovery on account of their allowed claims (without post-petition interest)) to $20,000 per claim.
- The Committee reached a settlement with the Oversight Board that significantly improves projected recoveries for general unsecured creditors of the Commonwealth under the plan of adjustment. As a result of the Committee’s settlement, the Commonwealth plan of adjustment provides cash consideration in the aggregate amount of $575 million to or for the benefit of general unsecured creditors, reflecting an improvement of approximately $414 million as compared to the Oversight Board’s prior proposal of $161 million in cash consideration. This represents a projected effective recovery rate of approximately 20% as compared to the Oversight Board’s prior proposal under which the projected recovery rate was only approximately 5%. Moreover, as part of the Committee’s efforts and the global settlement reached, the Committee was able to increase the threshold for Convenience Class treatment (which provides such creditors with a 100% recovery on account of their allowed claims (without post-petition interest)) from $10,000 per claim to $20,000 per claim.
- The Committee litigated, on behalf of the Commonwealth, the question of whether billions of dollars in sales and use taxes are property of the Commonwealth or COFINA, which litigation resulted in a settlement that will allow the Commonwealth to retain $28 billion (nominal dollars) in such taxes over the next 40 years.
- The Committee obtained significant improvements in the Government Development Bank (“GDB”) restructuring, including (a) up to $30 million in additional distributions to Title III Debtors, (b) a $312 million reduction of GDB’s claim against the Commonwealth, (c) the release by GDB of a claim of over $324 million against PREPA on account of funds PREPA allegedly withdrew from GDB while GDB was insolvent, and (d) the elimination of third party releases for former GDB officers and directors (thereby preserving such claims for the benefit of the Commonwealth).
- The Committee pushed for a more creditor-friendly claims-filing process and obtained a one-month extension of the claims bar date, which extension allowed tens of thousands of creditors to file their claims. In addition, the Committee organized information sessions for creditors in San Juan, Mayagüez, Ponce, and Arecibo, assisting hundreds of creditors with the claims-filing process.