Lyondell creditors get court approval to sue lenders, execs

22 July 2009 16:39  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--A US bankruptcy court approved a creditors' lawsuit against the lenders, former board members and officers of Lyondell Chemical, who are accused of driving the company into bankruptcy in roughly a year after its merger with Basell, the company said on Wednesday.

The lawsuit names several prominent officers in the merged LyondellBasell, including Ed Dineen, chief operating officer; Alan Bigman, chief financial officer; and Bart de Jong, president of the North American operations.

Also named are Leonard Blavatnik and his industrial group, Access Industries. Access owned Basell at the time of the merger.

In the lawsuit, the creditors alleged that the merger left the combined firm with excessive debt.

"The debtors' inability to fund their operations," the creditors said in the lawsuit, "was the entirely foreseeable and direct consequence of the merger."

The deal left LyondellBasell insolvent, leaving it undercapitalised and incapable of paying its debts on time, the creditors said.

The lawsuit does not name Lyondell Chemical and other US operations that filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

In a statement, Lyondell spokesman David Harpole said, "LyondellBasell remains optimistic that the parties in the lawsuit will resolve their differences in a timely matter so the company's plan for reorganisation can be confirmed on an expedited basis."

Lyondell plans to present its reorganisation plan to the court by 15 September, Harpole said.

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By: Al Greenwood
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