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March 31, 2005
Stelco Court Decision, Thurs., March 31, 2005, 7:51 PM
Some of you may have been wondering if I happen to be a little loony in writing such a scathing attack on Canadian bankruptcy judge James Farley. You might recall that I opined as a businessman that this idiot judge had no right to remove two duly appointed directors of Stelco (TSE: STE.A) because he thought they might not act in the interest of all stakeholders during a bankruptcy re-organization (Note: they own or directly represent some 20 pct of the common stock). He had no proof, and therefore he had no basis in law for making his idiot finding. Today the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed with the position I took.
You may recall that some time ago, I wrote that when all is said and done in the Stelco affair, there will be reputations in tatters, and one of them will belong to Judge Farley, another to re-organization officer Hap Stephen, and a third to Stelco executive management " the latter for trying to use the bankruptcy law to bully a trade union.
What really is apparent in this case is that government needs to better understand and define its own corporate bankruptcy laws, so that the actors like judges, corporate boards and management, employees, and shareholders and creditors, have an easier time of working through the issues toward a resolution that is optimally fair to all.
Stelco comments on Court of Appeal decision
Thursday March 31, 6:16 pm ET
HAMILTON, ON, March 31 /CNW/ : Stelco Inc. (TSX:STE - News) has commented on today's decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal overturning the ruling of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that removed Messrs. Roland Keiper and Michael Woollcombe from Stelco's Board of Directors.
Richard Drouin, Stelco's Chairman of the Board, said, "We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has unanimously confirmed the original decision of the Board of Directors. We welcome Messrs. Keiper and Woollcombe back to the Board and look forward to their positive contribution as we work to achieve the goal of a viable and competitive Stelco."
"Like all of Stelco's directors, we look forward to achieving a balanced restructuring that fairly takes into account the interests of all stakeholders, including current and former employees, creditors and suppliers, the Province of Ontario and other communities in which Stelco operates and shareholders," said Messrs. Keiper and Woollcombe.
"The Board, management and the advisors will continue to pursue the successful completion of our Court-supervised restructuring in the interests of all our stakeholders," said Mr. Drouin.
Posted by Posted by Bill Cara on March 31, 2005 08:04:50 PM | Category: 15 Materials , Canada