The website is better

I happened to look at the MTLQQ website last Thursday.  It has been expanded considerably since my last visit, some months ago.  The site now has links to thousands of pages of bankruptcy-related documents.  And for nostalgia fans, you can also get past General Motors annual reports.

One section of the bankruptcy filing gives 852 pages of pending lawsuits.

Another lists MTLQQ’s properties, which include the Hyatt Hills golf complex in Clark, New Jersey.  HH has nine holes of regulation golf and a miniature golf layout.  It’s being carried at about $5 million.  How did that get in there?  Why only nine holes?

The most important section lists MTLQQ’s assets, as of the bankruptcy, at $2.1 billion and its liabilities at $27.4 billion–meaning a total company  deficit of $25.3 billion.

Monthly SEC filings

The newest are an 8-K and a copy of the monthly report for September to the bankruptcy court, filed on November 12th.

Excerpts:

MTLQQ had a $100 million loss for the three months ending September.  That’s not so surprising if you read the interview summary below.

Liabilities have expanded to about $35 billion.  The major creditors are unsecured bond holders ($27.3 billion), unions ($3.5 billion) and product liability claims ($1.5 billion).

A Financial Times interview with the CEO

The interview with Al Koch, a liquidation specialist whose firm was hired by the bankruptcy court, has a few salient points:

1.  he’s developing a ten-year plan to dissolve MTLQQ

2.  MTLQQ is still receiving about a thousand new claims a day, which is more than had been expected.  They fall into three main categories–vehicle liability, tax, and environment.

3.  Koch doesn’t expect to net anything from asset sales.  “It’s not so much about how much we’re going to get as about how much we’re going to pay,” since maintaining an idled car plant can cost $3 million a year.

Conclusion

Yes, MTLQQ does own 10% of the “new” GM plus warrants to buy another 15%.  But, even assuming the liabilities don’t expand from here, which they have already shown a tendency to do, the first $35 billion of that is owed to MTLQQ’s creditors.  In other words, for you to make any money from owning MTLQQ, you have to believe that when it eventually relists, the “new” GM will have a market cap as big as IBM or GE.  What are the chances of that?

You can also see my first post, dated September 9, 2009.