“VeraSun Playing Texas Hold’em in Delaware U.S. Bankrupcy Court” – Farmers
The Charles City Press is reporting that creditors, both elevators and farmers, of VeriSun LLC are upset that their contracts with the biofuel and ethanol maker may be canceled with just ten days notice. They are also upset that they must come to Delaware to press their cases.
There are hundreds of farmers and elevators holding contracts with VeriSun. Each one has only a small stake, in dollars, in the proceedings. The amounts are small in dollars, but they may represent a years investment. The contract cancellation provision that VeriSun is seeking would “hold the VeraSun Corn Suppliers’ product hostage while the Debtors determine whether or not to reject the contracts,” the objection filed Friday states.
The farmers have started to band together to fight for their rights in the case. They are splitting the cost of travel and local representation necessary to fight the motion.
The entities that make up Verisun are Delaware LLC’s and that is what allows them to file in Delaware. The entities identified as Verisun on the Division of Corporations database are:
FILE NUMBER ENTITY NAME
4036795 VERASUN BIODIESEL, LLC
4036816 VERASUN CHARLES CITY, LLC
4219654 VERASUN DYERSVILLE, LLC
3716882 VERASUN FORT DODGE, LLC
4243419 VERASUN GRANITE CITY, LLC
4200115 VERASUN HARTLEY, LLC
4298842 VERASUN LITCHFIELD, LLC
4385665 VERASUN LITCHFIELD, LLC
3724257 VERASUN, LLC
4036808 VERASUN MARKETING, LLC
4011693 VERASUN MERGER, LLC
4253771 VERASUN REYNOLDS, LLC
4469050 VERASUN TILTON, LLC
3756008 VERASUN WELCOME, LLC
“The problem is there are over 5,000 unsecured creditors being utilized by VeraSun in Iowa and VeraSun is not required to disclose who they are, so unless someone steps forward we have no idea who is involved and would be interested in this objection,”
–Kuhn
Filing for bankruptcy in Delaware has always had advantages. It appears making it difficult for small creditors to pursue you is one of them.
The objection calls VeraSun’s motion, “…tantamount to playing a game of Texas Hold’em, where the VeraSun Corn Suppliers are ‘all in’ and VeraSun gets to see the flop prior to deciding whether to assume the contracts” — or, “seeing the under card in Black Jack before deciding whether to take a hit. Then, if it’s prudent, VeraSun can pick and choose which, if any, contracts to assume.”
Just a note that the newspaper is call the CHARLES CITY PRESS – if you click on the link next to it.
Thanks Meghan. Good catch!