Where's Tim?
Yellowstone Club Auction Draws Few Bidders
By Jonathan Weber , 5-07-09
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The court-supervised auction of the Yellowstone Club has attracted only two bids as of Wednesday’s deadline for the submission of initial offers, according to sources close the situation, with no bid materializing from former owner Tim Blixseth or the group of members that had been expected to make an offer.
While people involved in the process said there were rumblings about some late bids emerging, as of Thursday morning the only offers were the “stalking horse” bid from CrossHarbor Capital Partners and a so-called “credit bid” from Credit Suisse and several of the primary owners of the $310 million in debt remaining on the $375 million Credit Suisse-brokered loan to the club.
The credit bid may yet be disallowed, pending U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher’s decision on whether the Credit Suisse loan was a “fraudulent transfer.” A week-long trial on that issue, and a related allegation of breach of fiduciary duty against Credit Suisse and Tim Blixseth, concluded Wednesday afternoon, with a decision likely next Tuesday.
CrossHarbor, which has provided about $25 million in interim funding to the club, has offered $100 million for the club - $30 million cash and $70 million in assumed debt - and pledged to invest another $75 million in the coming years and set aside $7.5 million to pay unsecured trade creditors.
Sources said the Credit Suisse offer is for $10 million more than that, though the structure of the bid is different and it could not be learned exactly who was providing the cash component of the offer. Two hedge funds who hold big chunks of the debt are said to be involved in the Credit Suisse offer.
It is also possible that various parties, including Tim Blixseth, may be looking to work with Credit Suisse on an offer. In a brief conversation with NewWest.Net earlier this week, Blixseth said one could bid “directly or indirectly,” suggesting he may be looking to partner.
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Comments
Stockmans Bank joins in with Western Capital to force Edra Blixseth to a chapter 7 (Liquidation) --- Edra, time to liquidate and I guess we will know the truth on that side deal with Sam Byrne very quickly. Clearly Porcupine Creek days are few.
Rumor Mill but need help to confirm: Greg LeMond got the shaft today from EB and SB. Greg, were you played by chance thinking SB/EB had our back? Fraudlent transfer for your settlement and they want the money back. I guess you picked the wrong side of the court to sit huh? What is your response now? IS this how SB is going to treat all creditors? Clearly EB could not have organized this great of a legal arm-wrestle? Well done SB. You are correct, a pre-pack BK will take care of Le Mond and ho you got them so close to your defense team to let them think you had their back and then shafted them with the court filing today is a 'Brilliant Plan' Well done, LeMond got greedy but WHAT a Brilliant Plan my man Sam!
Now, disappointing news and eating humble PIE is TB did not make a Bid! Oh well, I guess I will hear shit for the next week on the Blog Site but I grew thick skin from all the hate mail. Why did TB decide to pull out? Anyone want to take a stab at that?
CS: Well done with a 10m bid over CH. I am sure Sam will come up to 110,000,001 to up you by a dollar. Clearly with his new house in Porcupine Creek, the family compound which people forget is in default / foreclosure as well he is a Rich and Cool Wallstreeter who took this deal by Strom.
EB: Not looking good is it. SB going behind Greg LeMond and leaving you to face the 2004 Exam all alone with no defence. Ouch! It can't be fun but soon it will be over, I think OVER-OVER. Its not to late to turn evidence against the one you believed in is it? Banks, IRS, Friends, Chapter 7? Think before the 15th May 2009 as any side deal you had can never come out for 11 years as they will watch you like a Hawk. Do yourself a favour, SPEAK UP and Take some responsibility. You have all you need to hand over and show the TRUTH. Remember the NEW WEST article you said, The Truth will set me free? Just words or are you actually going to pu that into play as you have been PLAYED and lost it all. If I was you I would be beyond Angry, I would be seeking a little sweat juctice. Can you imagine if the Members find out the truth before its to late? Think real hard over the weekend. Its ugly but it means a lot to the friends, members and lendersto hear the real story.
Ok, bloggers, lay into me. Two bidders, what a story! CS will go no higher with their offer so SB, looks like you pulled it off. I concede, you won but how you won is shameful. I guess one thing is right about Wallstreeters, take no prisons, tell people what they want to hear and pull the knives out so you can use them again when the time arises.
At this stage, no matter what happens, I concede that SB is the winnner of the Club. Yellowstone Club is now called Liars Poker Club. A bluff payed from day one, a double down on PC and a trump card on EB. WOW!
What are we going to do now???
One day Blockhead I will find out who you are, pat you on the back and ask you to run for office!!!!
The principle behind this rule is clear: it's to prevent companies that know they are going to BK, or even think they might, from picking and choosing which bills to pay in the run-up to the filing. So you can't say, I'm going to pay Joe because he's my buddy but I'm not going to pay Jim even though he provided the same products/ services. If you do that, Joe's payment could be clawed back as a preference payment.
In this context, the LeMond settlement payments can readily be challenged as preference payments. It's highly likely that the estate and/or any buyer would (and, frankly, probably should) use this as leverage to try and negotiate a reduction of the settlement.
They had an agenda this whole time to prolong and drag out the process to protect their own exposure.
At least this is the final nail for Tim and his dalliances with land development. Kindly go away Tim and stop taking people's money.
Incognito your obviously not at a level at the club that was privi to this info so not on crack.
who knows we may get out missing pay yet
Another thing they need to do is ask the employees what changes need to be done to make the club a great place to work to attract new hires and actually keep them. Way too much turnover under the old management. Hopefully jw will have another interview with sb that will address these things after this is all settled. The old tb management was terrible (other than a couple vp's) so anything will be an improvement. Good luck to all involved.
nacy way to go JW needs to get SB on here,and ask live feed Q&A;from YC staff with him so we could ask the hard questions without fear of getting kicked off the club
This does not strike me as hugely surprising per my note above.
This is far from over. Attorneys get paid by the hour. They will drag this out for ever.
Also in any auction, the bids at the end are the ones that count.
Deadlines be damned.
to see if they can help. I am glad I did read it before I talk to my CC company and it helped - Jane Jim, California
Thanks!
I am wondering why you think that SB is going to win the acution...hunch or inside information?
I hope not! Us locals can say goodbye to a fast rebound of our economy...I understand that hee, too, will just sit on it.
A month ago, I was rooting for SB to win. I am not so sure anymore.
On an unrelated note, I stand corrected on one point above: the "look-back" period for preference payment recovery is one year for payments to insiders, but 3 months for non-insiders.
Does anyone have any knowledge what SB will do once he has ownership? Will he keep it open or close for a period? Will he start up some new projects or keep building at a stand still (I did read that he had 2 projects in the works before all of this)? Will DLC be in control?
DLC would be in charge of the club's day to day operations if this all goes according to what has been published.
Sam if your reading this and what to keep you reputation amongst the faithful locals...Find someone else to run the club and let DLC serve caviar at their respected properties...
Members beware for the cloak will soon be removed and the true face of this group will rage..
CS wll give CH.SB the loan for 5 years so looks like all is well on CS front, nothing like writing off 200 million of debt to CH.
Edra is under the gun for questioning on the 15th and 16th with the IRS. Fly on the wall? JW you should attend as she took more than 45m from local montana people through banks and creditors wth go build and others. Should be fun! SB/DLC we await your business plan
Do you know anything about the projects he is planing on? Are they existing or new projects? I understand that he owns alot of land in YC and had intentions of starting a few new communities before all of this started. Can us contractors start getting excited about new work?
Any informatio would be fun to hear. Does anyone out there have the documents issued to the members detailing what he plans to do and when?
SB/CH have the only good bid on the table. Judge is set to rule late tonight which will no doubt see CS off the bid by a vote of 80% to 20%. EB will not be held liable to pay back 'HER' promissory notes of 209m, TB is cleared of wrong doing and the then it is assumed lawsuits for the recovery of 157m will begin.
Greg LeMond may have to pay back his money received as well. This would be a wierd turn of events. At the very least and I am assuming the B shareholders would agree, he should share his amounts with them since the B shareholders get the shaft, unless that is they buy into SB/CH plan.
In regards to the plan of CH, CONDO CITY. I doubt very much there will be any building going on for at least 2 years given SB/CH need to recover the 150,000,000 they spent building the condo's yet to be sold and the houses they own in the club. So in regards to work for the contractors? I would not count on anything unless they put some money into Warren Miller Lodge, but then again why would they and DLC needs their big salaries to manage the members now. The glory days are over, the growth is done, there will be no more sales for a long time to come as there are 7 houses as JW reported in foreclosure, keep in mind Edra is 2 of those 7 thanks to her son filing BK and her guarantee being worthless. Sit back, grab a beer and some cheap bar nuts as the fun looks only to begin. The good news is the club will have a new owner but will be fun to monitor how in the hell CH can pull this off in such a market. They do not have deep pockets and they reley on their investors money. I doubt very much CH investors will give the approval to go further into debt to feed someone's ego. A win is a win so well done to the CH team. you have proven to everyone that winning at all costs is the way things operate from boston. They fought a great battle and EB will soon realize her mistake of doing business with them. JW, what next? We need another good story to blog about?
Condo City - perhaps - if you consider a plan to NOT develop Eglise and leave it for skiing and relocate the 100 units of density there down to the village area Condo City. Actually seems to make perfect sense to me. No one in Big Sky would want to see 100 houses on Eglise.
Warren Miller Lodge - if TB hadn't cut corners on the construction of that facility by trying to be the GC, that lodge would have been done years ago. SB/CH will guarantee that Lodge is finished the way it should have been. some rework now, since the idea of an entry level caviar bar by TB (blecch) has been thoroughly replaced. still won't be the building it should have been, but it will become functional.
CH's investors - BH you don't know what you are talking about. The money behind CH is very stable, very patient capital - billions of it. now i agree, they won't continue to support CH if they do stupid deals and lose money, but they have certainly been supportive thus far.
YC had over 60 prospects visit the last two months according to the real estate guys, and over 300 avg skier days this winter, the highest they have ever had. it must drive you crazy to know that the club will rapidly become a going concern again.
There are a number of foreclosures on the property now - typical. many of the folks there could afford to keep paying on the units, but they can also afford to just walk away. i expect that all that inventory is cleared up by the end of summer.
YC is moving on to the next chapter. just wont' be with TB, Blockhead, and others.
Godspeed.
Hate to break it to you but I can't resist. I must confess, there is another quiet bidder who is going to surprise you and steal your thunder. Its hard to keep a secret but given the judge rules today, you may want to look for a new job very quickly as Sb will not have a need for a Mr. fix it given he will not own this club. sorry for you buddy! You may have to go back into your glory days with your sailing club again.
Are you confused yet? You see dear Friend of the SKY, the fat lady is not singing yet but you sure bought into the ' SB WINS'. Merely wanted to better understand how people think and react.
Deep pockets of billions at CH? You must be smokin the good stuff. CH being the group who does not do due-diligence on the very basic aspects of investing money into a club? Either SB was not so honest under oath (I presume this to be the case) or he really is that type of investor to spend his ' Investors billions' rather millions in such a reckless manner?
What would be really funny and I know you would just fall off your soon Pedstal is that TB buys the club. TB has a heart, he would let you flip burgers to maintain your dream to stay on the mountain, that is if it not below your status. Hell, I would love to flip burgers in this economy as people have to eat. 'Would you like Fries Sir?
Seve me up another great laughter of your light hearted mis-representations about CH.
Let me ask you this. 'What will SB/CH tell their investors when they loose this club and a new owner puts the screws to him to start paying the membership dues on all those properties? What does SB do when the creditors of Edra go after CH/SB for a fraudulent convayance of a loan on PC? He may lose that money if he is not careful as well. That would be pretty sad.
I could be making this all up just to get under your skin but then again, Lightening could strike! Lets see what today brings and the end of the auction shall we? I would be very concerned to think you have this in the bag my dear FRIEND of the SKY.
I either eat humble crow or you will get a full blog from me at the finish line! I hate to blog as you know but I think I have one more left in me for the finish line.
JW, can you confirm to the MAN of the SKY that this is the truth. Late bids by the judge count as long its in the interest of the creditors. WOW! How's that for going to the wire. Up the bid SB/CH or risk doing the walk of shame.
CS does not trust the debtors nor Sam Byrne and want their offer under seal. Can you blame them, thick as thieves EB/SB. Anyway, its all coming down to the wire.
Bets:
CS found guilty - Less than 40% chance
TB found guilty - Less than 10% chance
I believe the Judge will do the right thing and even dismiss the entire case. Who knows as all is possible.
EB, get ready for the 15th and 16th. I heard EB was funny on the phone in to the court in Butte yesterday. She actually tried to argue she needed her Rolls Royce and Astin Martin as she needa car to drive when she is at PC. USE a golf cart, oh yea those are rented! She also needed her BMW while she is in Seattle, Judge had a nice one liner....rent a car lady! Archer Capital Victory!
US Bankruptcy Trustee called for EB to be put into Chapter 7 (liquidation) in front of the judge as she cant follow the rules! Well done US BK Trustee. About time as she is squandering the assets from 157,000,000 owed to creditors! EB, still time to do an about face on SB. Never to late to let the TRUTH SET YOUR FREE because at this rate Lying will not keep you FREE.
So, any bets on who gets the Club?
SB/CH - Side Deal EB - less than 5%
CS-Others - 70%
Surprise Investor - 99%
Stay tuned, its going to hilarious when you find out who wins this bid. Who would have thought or rather who did everyone underestimate. Again, i could be blowin smoke up your arse, but then again, you might cry or laugh in the end.
So, CS, keep your bid sealed! Its important as you have the right GUT feeling. The UCC/SB/EB are not acting for everyone, they act only for SB on false promises. Clearly, Greg Le might want to tell everyone the truth or at least their counsel how they were used in the trial. so much for trusting EB/SB ?
No I think that it has been proven that he does not. Look at the wreckage over the last 10 years of broken dreams from ole "Timmah"
If he gets the club I wish him all the best nothing like having your own ghost town to play in.
Wake me when its over!
Dave D
Greg LeMond counsel files to have court deny the debtors plan. Greg, you finally woke up and figured out you got shafted by Sam Byrne and Edra? They used you completely in that Trial and once again yo realize Edra was lying the whole time. Greg, ask Edra how she screwed you days before her settlement with Tim. She knew all along she would only give you another 8m to keep you quiet. Those were her words.
So now the snake is out of the box and you see that the snake charmer and his side kick EB conned you and in the 11th hour as your brief states in the filing today, they changed the rules. I wonder Greg, how many others believe in the Sam Byrne Plan only to get shafted the moment he wins (keep in mind he will not) but assume lightening strikes, everyone must hear your story Greg. We all know how your counsel cooperated with UCC, EB and SB to take down CS/TB but in the end, they used you and now want you to return the money! How's that for being an upstanding investment banker from Boston. Edra is not that smart to undermine you, she relied on great lawyers and as Sam says in so many emails plotting his BK, 'A Brilliant PLAN' so t is Sam B so it is!
Dave D
The Judge was very stern today about the confidentiality order and in fact my above article was entered by CS as an exhibit allegedly showing violations of confidentiality. I mention this because the judge's threat of sanctions for violations may make it harder for me to get info over the next day. But in case anyone is wondering, I had a number of different sources on this story. There are *a lot* of people involved in this case, and thus a lot of possible sources.
One editorial comment: personally I think some of the parties are over-playing their hands in the crunch here and that increases the likelihood of a lose-lose outcome. As the Judge has said from the beginning, the way to get this resolved in a way that doesn't result in a shutdown/ liquidation is for people to sit down and cut deals, not litigate to the death. I've rarely seen a business deal driven so much by anger and emotion rather than rational assessment of the economics.
Judge's ruling the lawsuit should come within the hour based on his comments today.
There is another offer coming in and has nothing to do with CS or SB. Its a late final offer coming in with what I think will be the highest offer considering where its at now. its about 60m higher than Cs and comes with funds o run the club for 3 years assuming no sales. Lets see but its surprising who its coming from at this stage.
1 hour away? So was the Judge in a good mood or disgruntled? You are right about the CS bid, its 4 note holders and CS, no members, no founders, etc. Its a good bid but the price and terms are TOP SECRET. THe real nes is the judges ruling! Thanks for the update JW. Guess no twittering then.. Do a twitter for the judges ruling if you can.
Read the filing, then write. Very simple, log on to the public court records and pull it up. They sight claims against the debtors plan and 11th hour changes...its geared at the ones I menton. GL is not happy with SB/EB/UCC at the moment. It was a loan or return the interest payments, which from last count was over 50m! that will buyyou a few more winks huh Double D. Are you sure you did not make a blue movie in your past D does Dallas?
Anyone know what happened to that company EB invested 25m+ into to detect Terrorists? Rumor has it she lost the company to a man called Mr. Trepp. Seems Edra's legal counsel was also sanctioned according to a google search and so was her partner and a judgement of over 28m is left due plus the leggal fees of the lawfirm who screwed the pooch on that one as well. SB, you should have invested in that. EB was so proud of that investment company to make her another multi-multi filthy rich person. I guess we will know soon? Any bloggers got a read on that as its apparently important in the recovery of the 157m. to bad it can not detect the truth.
Way to go Sherlock!
Sure GL is not happy but SB's plan to Bankrupt therby "stiffing" the class B shareholders has been floating around the internet for over a year.
Old news
You are going to have to do better than that if you expect "Timmah" to reward you like a good little lap doggie
Arf Arf Blockhead
Til then
Dave D from Dallas
"Credit Suisse's actions in the case were so far overreaching and self-serving that they shocked the conscience of the Court."
"In addition to turning a blind eye to Debtors' financial statements, Credit Suisse's due
diligence with respect to the $375 million loan was almost all but non-existent. Credit Suisse spent a fair amount of money on legal bills to ascertain that the Debtors did in fact own the property at the Yellowstone Club, and Credit Suisse also spent a fair amount ensuring that it was not violating any laws with its loan product. Credit Suisse, however, did little financial due diligence. Barcy testified that Credit Suisse was aware that Cushman & Wakefield had appraised Debtors' assets in 2004 and thus either knew or should have known that the collateral that Blixseth proposed for the Credit Suisse loan had a fair market value of $420 million in
2004. The Court highly doubts that Credit Suisse could have successfully syndicated the Yellowstone Club loan if the loan to value ratio was 90 percent. Thus, Credit Suisse instead
commissioned Cushman & Wakefield to employ its newly devised valuation methodology. In applying the new valuation methodology, Credit Suisse relied almost exclusively on the
Debtors' future financial projections, even though such projections bore no relation to the Debtors' historical or present reality."
The only plausible explanation for Credit Suisse's actions is that it was simply driven by the fees it was extracting from the loans it was selling, and letting the chips fall where they may. Unfortunately for Credit Suisse, those chips fell in this Court with respect to the Yellowstone Club loan. The naked greed in this case combined with Credit Suisse's complete disregard for the Debtors or any other person or entity who was subordinated to Credit Suisse's first lien position, shocks the conscience of this Court. While Credit Suisse's new loan product resulted in enormous fees to Credit Suisse in 2005, it resulted in financial ruin for several residential resort communities. Credit Suisse lined its pockets on the backs of the unsecured creditors. The only equitable remedy to compensate for Credit Suisse's overreaching and predatory lending practices in this instance is to subordinate Credit Suisse's first lien position to that of CrossHarbor's superpriority debtor-in-possession financing and to subordinate such lien to that of the allowed claims of unsecured creditors."
Given this tone against credit suisse, i wonder how he will rule against TB. This is an interim order and the judge wills till have to rule on all the other matters that were brought up at trial.
"SB/CH have the only good bid on the table."
"Speak up now as SB needs local support and membership support. ... SB WINS!"
"but you sure bought into the ' SB WINS'."
Did he buy into the SB wins alongside you and the words coming from your own mouth?
You may be able to say I told you so at the end as so far you have backed every horse, but you can't escape all the donkeys you have backed so far as they are on the record. Choose your stance.
I might as well ask you, as I have asked Blockhead, let me guess; that the third mystery bid is just biding his time, waiting for the last moment. I thought only Blockhead was dreaming but you have fallen for his ruse.
Spoiler alert, the third bid is Blockhead's Tim Blixseth hero bid and remains solely a figment of Blockhead's furtive, confused and besotted imagination. Down on Earth there is no third mystery bid.