Tricom asks court to estimate creditor claims for plan confirmation purposes

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, April 2 - Tricom SA asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to estimate the claims of creditors Bancredit Cayman Ltd. and Bancredito Panama, SA solely for purposes of confirmation of the company's plan of reorganization, according to a Wednesday court filing.

Specifically, the company is asking the court to estimate Bancredit's alleged $120 million "wrongful transfer" claim at $120,000 and Bancredito's claim at zero.

According to the motion, wrongful transfer "is, quite simply, a non-existent cause of action under any relevant law of which Tricom is aware."

Even if the claim was justified, Tricom said Bancredit's statute of limitations to enforce the claim has expired.

The company said Bancredit has admitted that when Tricom's account was finally closed in August 2003, the account was in an overdraft position of only $120,000.

"To this date, Bancredit utterly has failed to explain how $120 million can be wrongfully transferred when, upon closing Tricom's account, the account was overdrawn by only $120,000," Tricom said in the motion.

In addition, Tricom said Bancredito Panama has never filed any complaint or proof of claim against the company, but the bank is attempting to hold the company responsible for payment on a $70 million loan made to third-party borrowers to fund their purchase of class A common stock from Tricom.

A hearing is scheduled for April 15.

Tricom, a full-service telecommunications provider based in the Dominican Republic, filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 29. Its Chapter 11 case number is 08-10720.

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