CSFB calls Owens Corning demand for more disclosure from ad hoc committee hypocritical

By Jeff Pines

Washington, Sept. 13 - Credit Suisse First Boston said in court documents Friday that Owens Corning's demand that the ad hoc committee of bondholders disclose more information about its members is hypocritical because it fails to ask attorneys representing asbestos-related personal injury claimants for the same information.

CSFB is the agent for the Toledo, Ohio-based building materials' pre-petition institutional lenders.

In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware last month, Owens Corning said the disclosure the committee members filed does not tell the company the nature, the amount, the date the members acquired their claims and at what discount they acquired the debt or claim.

Owens Corning said the members of the committee "include well known 'vulture funds' that may have purchased different types of bankruptcy claims to hedge their bets." It also wants the ad hoc committee members to disclose the holdings of their affiliates so it knows what their "true economic interests" are.

CSFB said it takes no position on the merits of the motion, but it wants all of the attorneys representing multiple claimants to disclose more.

"By their motion, the debtors have once again demonstrated that they do not take seriously their fiduciary obligations to all creditors and that they are not interested in dealing with each of their various creditor constituencies in an equal and evenhanded fashion. Instead, the debtors continue to excuse the asbestos claimants from any compliance with the bankruptcy rules, while simultaneously seeking to restrict compliance from commercial creditors, particularly those commercial creditors who oppose the debtors' unconfirmable Chapter 11 plan," CSFB said.

A Sept. 27 hearing is scheduled.

Owens Corning filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 5, 2000. Its Chapter 11 case number is 00-03837.

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