Genco equity committee seeks 45-day adjournment of approval hearing

By Kali Hays

New York, May 13 - Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd.'s official committee of equity security holders asked court to adjourn the June 3 hearing to confirm the company's plan of reorganization by at least 45 days, according to a Tuesday motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The committee claims that, as there is no committee of creditors, it is the only committee available to "ensure a full vetting of the disclosure statement and plan" and said that it is moving "with the utmost haste to evaluate the disclosure statement and plan."

If the current hearing date is kept the committee said it, and the security holders that it represents, "will be substantially prejudiced" as they have not been involved in the "months of extensive restructuring negotiations and analysis" and said the initial meeting between the committee and the company is scheduled for May 14, according to the motion.

The committee also said that it appealed directly to Genco to agree on a later hearing date, but was denied its request based on the alleged impact of the bankruptcy on international operations.

"It is difficult to comprehend what operational concerns would be implicated in such a minimal delay, given that all of the extensive first day relief was granted and remains in place, and the debtors have sufficient liquidity for at least a 45 day extension," the motion stated.

"The debtors' refusal to an extension only heightens the equity committee's concern about the plan and emphasizes the fact that the equity committee is the only counterbalance to plan proponents in these cases."

Genco, a New York-based transporter of iron ore, coal, grain, steel products and other drybulk cargoes, filed bankruptcy on April 21. The Chapter 11 case number is 14-11108.

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