Seitel Updates Bankruptcy Person; Proposes Auction Process; Announces Settlement of Class Action Litigation
December 03 2003 - 3:01PM
PR Newswire (US)
Seitel Updates Bankruptcy Person; Proposes Auction Process;
Announces Settlement of Class Action Litigation HOUSTON, Dec. 3
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Seitel, Inc. (BULLETIN BOARD: SEIEQ)
("Seitel" or the "Company") announced today that it filed a motion
with the Bankruptcy Court amending its plan of reorganization to
include an auction process designed to guarantee maximum recoveries
for creditors and shareholders. The motion, filed in support of
Seitel's confirmation hearing, will be heard by the Court on
Wednesday, December 10, 2003. Under the motion, if approved,
competitive bids will be solicited for a period of approximately
sixty days after which the reorganization plan for the Company
would be considered for confirmation. In support of the auction
process and to assure that all Seitel creditors and shareholders
will, in all events, recover at least as much from the auction as
presently provided under the Company's pending plan of
reorganization, Seitel also announced that Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
has agreed to and will submit an initial bid in the amount of
approximately $280 million. Such amount will provide cash
distributions equal to the amounts that would be made under the
Company's presently pending plan of reorganization, including
$10.15 million that would be distributed to shareholders. In
anticipation of including the auction process as described above,
the Bankruptcy Court deferred to a later date confirmation of the
Company's presently pending plan. In addition, the Bankruptcy Court
deferred action on the disclosure statement filed by the Equity
Committee with respect to its proposed alternative plan. Final
procedures for becoming a qualified bidder and submitting a bid in
the auction are expected to be approved at next week's hearing and
will be available publicly thereafter. In addition, Seitel
announced that it has reached agreement to settle class action
litigation initiated by certain shareholders in April 2002. Under
the settlement, which will become effective upon the satisfaction
of certain conditions, including approval by the Bankruptcy Court
and the District Court of the Southern District of Texas, Seitel
will pay approximately $980,000 to resolve all claims against it
and all of the individual defendants in the case. All other costs
related to the settlement will be covered by Seitel's insurance
carrier. Seitel markets its proprietary seismic
information/technology to more than 400 petroleum companies,
licensing data from its library and creating new seismic surveys
under multi-client projects. Statements in this release about the
future outlook related to Seitel involve known and unknown risks
and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results to
differ materially from expected results. While the Company believes
its forecasting assumptions are reasonable, there are factors that
are hard to predict and influenced by economic and other conditions
that are beyond the Company's control. These risk factors are
detailed in Seitel's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its most recent Form 10-K Annual Report, a
copy of which may be obtained from the Company without charge.
DATASOURCE: Seitel, Inc. CONTACT: Larry Lenig or Len Goldstein,
both of Seitel, Inc., +1-713-881-8900 Web site:
http://www.seitel-inc.com/
Copyright