WaMu shareholders appearl judges decision

I can’t get the whole story because it is behind a paywall, but according to this headline, Washington Mutual shareholders are appealing the judges decision against appointing an independent examiner to investigate WaMu’s seizure and sale by the FDIC.

WaMu still getting raped by JP Morgan Chase

In the latest settlement agreement between JP Morgan Chase and WaMu’s former holding company (and the FDIC), Chase is backing away from its claim to tax refunds in exchange for a larger share of the WaMu assets.

Does anyone else think it is strange that Chase is laying claim to $6.4 billion in assets when they paid only $1.9 billion for all the banks assets in 2008?  Someone is getting screwed here and I think it is the WaMu shareholders and bondholders.

WaMu holding company files amended bankruptcy plan

I’ve seen few details yet but a story is cirtulating about Washington Mutual’s holding company filing an amended bankruptcy plan:

DOVER, Del. — Bank holding company Washington Mutual Inc. has reached an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that puts WaMu closer to exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The revised reorganization plan filed Sunday in Delaware bankruptcy court is based on a settlement involving the bank holding company, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and JPMorgan Chase Bank, which filed lawsuits against one another after the FDIC seized WaMu’s flagship bank in 2008 and sold its assets to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion.

The FDIC objected to the initial settlement plan, resulting in negotiations that led to the amended plan.

In addition distributing some $7 billion in funds among various parties as part of the settlement, the plan allows certain creditors to buy new shares in the reorganized company. Holders of existing shares would receive nothing.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.

WaMu bankruptcy update

The battlefield over Washington Mutual’s former holding company’s assets is getting hotter.

Shareholders have filed suit to demand an annual meeting in the hopes of ousting that board members so they can get their own on the board and better direct WaMu’s bankruptcy in the hopes of getting something out of it.  As it stands, the assets left in WaMu aren’t enough to make WaMu’s creditors complete, so the shareholders would get nothing.

The creditors on the other hand are pushing the bankruptcy court to liquidate the company so they can get their money already.

Meanwhile, the creditors and shareholders are fighting each other over having an independent investigation of WaMu’s collapse.

Update 5/6/10:  Shareholders lost their bid for an independent investigation.

Is WaMu hiding its real value

WaMu’s bankruptcy plan (i.e. the former banks holding company) has been stalled for a while but now there is another reason, claims that the holding company is not fairly disclosing the value of its assets, meaning, it is actually worth more than they are saying.  Is someone trying to pull a fast one on shareholders?  It is clear that under the current plan, Chase would have benefited, perhaps undeservedly.

Luckily, shareholders have won the right to pursue an annual meeting, where they can try to force out the current board and replace it with one that might be more favorable to them.

WaMu shareholders force meeting

WaMu shareholders have apparently been able to force a shareholders meeting and hope to change the direction that bankruptcy is currently taking:

Washington Mutual shareholders have won a battle to force the bankrupt thrift to hold a shareholder’s meeting. With the victory, WaMu shareholders can potentially unseat the majority of company’s board of directors and, in so doing, upend the trajectory of the case. Washington Mutual last held an annual shareholders meeting in April 2008.

(From here and more here.)

Office of thrift supervision

According to this article, when WaMu was alive its fees represented 12 to 15% of the Office of Thrift Supervisions budget, one possible factor in why the OTS didn’t clamp down on WaMu’s lax lending practices.

I wonder what percentage of their budget Chase represents now?

Too big to fail? Try too clubby to fail

WaMu’s former CEO Kerry Killinger claimed in Senate testimony that WaMu should not have been seized and that other institutions were to clubby to fail, but WaMu was not clubby enough.