Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is creating derivatives trades that would profit from the bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide Inc., the trucking company trying to avert failure with a debt exchange.
The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in a letter dated yesterday to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.
YRC, the biggest U.S. trucker by sales, is extending the exchange offer deadline to Dec. 23, after investors holding 75 percent of its debt initially agreed to the exchange, below the 95 percent required by bank lenders. As of 5 p.m. in New York yesterday, participation fell to 57 percent, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a statement. The company said it believes some bondholders have withdrawn because they want to tender their notes only on the expiration date.
The company has faced opposition to its plan to exchange $536.8 million of notes for equity from bondholders who also own derivatives that pay out in a default, according to people familiar with the matter. The Teamsters’ pressure comes as Goldman Sachs is under fire from other labor groups over its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
YRC, which has posted more than $1.7 billion in losses in the past five quarters, must complete the exchange offer as part of agreements with its bank lenders, the Teamsters and multi- employer pension funds, according to a Nov. 24 regulatory filing.
Revised Terms
YRC has changed the terms of the exchange so that it now requires 70 percent of holders of its 8.5 percent notes due in April 2010 and a combined 85 percent of its 3.375 percent convertible notes and 5 percent convertibles, both due in 2023, to tender. Lenders holding two-thirds of commitments under its credit agreement need to approve the revised offer, YRC said today in a statement. The company said it reached a tentative agreement with a steering committee of lenders to approve the revised offer.
YRC joins companies including Yellow Pages publisher Idearc Inc. and newsprint maker AbitibiBowater Inc. that met opposition to restructuring outside of bankruptcy court from creditors that hedged their holdings with credit-default swaps. Such creditors will typically get paid whether a borrower defaults or not, and sometimes can make more in a bankruptcy.
Workers United
The Teamsters aren’t the only union taking on Goldman Sachs. Workers United, which represents 150,000 people in the U.S. and Canada, sent letters on Dec. 14 to 10 state attorneys general that urged them to investigate the role played by Goldman Sachs in the subprime mortgage market. The union noted that Massachusetts won a $60 million settlement from the firm in May when it undertook such a probe.
Andy Stern, president of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union, has led a letter writing campaign to Goldman Sachs board members demanding information on the firm’s part in the mortgage crisis and whether the companies they’ve invested in are cutting jobs.
Hoffa wrote that “the relatively small benefit Goldman would derive for itself in fees or for clients from such a position is unconscionable given the fact that the 50,000 livelihoods could be ruined by a bankruptcy filing,” according to the letter obtained by Bloomberg News.
No Position
Michael DuVally, a spokesman for New York-based Goldman Sachs, confirmed the bank received the letter.
“Goldman does not have a position in the company, nor are we making markets in the company’s bonds or credit-default swaps,” DuVally said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.
Goldman Sachs sent e-mails to debt investors at around 11 a.m. yesterday, after the deadline for the exchange was extended, offering pricing levels on YRC bonds and credit- default swaps, according to people familiar with the matter.
DuVally declined to comment further on YRC or the e-mails.
Iain Gold, a director in the Teamsters’ strategic research department, also confirmed the contents of the letter.
“We want banks to stop creating these derivatives,” Gold said. “There’s too much at stake for the employees of the company. We need to do everything we can to make the exchange successful.”
Hoffa, 68, has led the Teamsters since 1998. The Teamsters union represents 1.4 million members, according to its Web site.
Bondholder Protection
Credit-default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to hedge against losses or to speculate on a company’s ability to repay debt. They pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower fail to adhere to its debt agreements.
In response to labor statements over Goldman Sachs’s role with mortgages issued to borrowers with the weakest credit, DuVally said in an e-mail that “we strongly take issue with the assertions the union makes. For example, Goldman Sachs was never one of the larger issuers of subprime securities.”
During 2006, when the housing bubble started to burst, Goldman Sachs was the 13th-largest issuer and sixth-largest underwriter of securities backed by subprime or second mortgages, according to newsletter Inside MBS & ABS.
It was the seventh-largest issuer and sixth-largest underwriter of bonds backed by Alt-A loans, which are a step higher in credit quality. Issuers acquired and packaged the loans into securities, while underwriters sold the bonds that were created, including those created by others, to debt investors.
The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in a letter dated yesterday to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.
YRC, the biggest U.S. trucker by sales, is extending the exchange offer deadline to Dec. 23, after investors holding 75 percent of its debt initially agreed to the exchange, below the 95 percent required by bank lenders. As of 5 p.m. in New York yesterday, participation fell to 57 percent, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a statement. The company said it believes some bondholders have withdrawn because they want to tender their notes only on the expiration date.
The company has faced opposition to its plan to exchange $536.8 million of notes for equity from bondholders who also own derivatives that pay out in a default, according to people familiar with the matter. The Teamsters’ pressure comes as Goldman Sachs is under fire from other labor groups over its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
YRC, which has posted more than $1.7 billion in losses in the past five quarters, must complete the exchange offer as part of agreements with its bank lenders, the Teamsters and multi- employer pension funds, according to a Nov. 24 regulatory filing.
Revised Terms
YRC has changed the terms of the exchange so that it now requires 70 percent of holders of its 8.5 percent notes due in April 2010 and a combined 85 percent of its 3.375 percent convertible notes and 5 percent convertibles, both due in 2023, to tender. Lenders holding two-thirds of commitments under its credit agreement need to approve the revised offer, YRC said today in a statement. The company said it reached a tentative agreement with a steering committee of lenders to approve the revised offer.
YRC joins companies including Yellow Pages publisher Idearc Inc. and newsprint maker AbitibiBowater Inc. that met opposition to restructuring outside of bankruptcy court from creditors that hedged their holdings with credit-default swaps. Such creditors will typically get paid whether a borrower defaults or not, and sometimes can make more in a bankruptcy.
Workers United
The Teamsters aren’t the only union taking on Goldman Sachs. Workers United, which represents 150,000 people in the U.S. and Canada, sent letters on Dec. 14 to 10 state attorneys general that urged them to investigate the role played by Goldman Sachs in the subprime mortgage market. The union noted that Massachusetts won a $60 million settlement from the firm in May when it undertook such a probe.
Andy Stern, president of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union, has led a letter writing campaign to Goldman Sachs board members demanding information on the firm’s part in the mortgage crisis and whether the companies they’ve invested in are cutting jobs.
Hoffa wrote that “the relatively small benefit Goldman would derive for itself in fees or for clients from such a position is unconscionable given the fact that the 50,000 livelihoods could be ruined by a bankruptcy filing,” according to the letter obtained by Bloomberg News.
No Position
Michael DuVally, a spokesman for New York-based Goldman Sachs, confirmed the bank received the letter.
“Goldman does not have a position in the company, nor are we making markets in the company’s bonds or credit-default swaps,” DuVally said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.
Goldman Sachs sent e-mails to debt investors at around 11 a.m. yesterday, after the deadline for the exchange was extended, offering pricing levels on YRC bonds and credit- default swaps, according to people familiar with the matter.
DuVally declined to comment further on YRC or the e-mails.
Iain Gold, a director in the Teamsters’ strategic research department, also confirmed the contents of the letter.
“We want banks to stop creating these derivatives,” Gold said. “There’s too much at stake for the employees of the company. We need to do everything we can to make the exchange successful.”
Hoffa, 68, has led the Teamsters since 1998. The Teamsters union represents 1.4 million members, according to its Web site.
Bondholder Protection
Credit-default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to hedge against losses or to speculate on a company’s ability to repay debt. They pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower fail to adhere to its debt agreements.
In response to labor statements over Goldman Sachs’s role with mortgages issued to borrowers with the weakest credit, DuVally said in an e-mail that “we strongly take issue with the assertions the union makes. For example, Goldman Sachs was never one of the larger issuers of subprime securities.”
During 2006, when the housing bubble started to burst, Goldman Sachs was the 13th-largest issuer and sixth-largest underwriter of securities backed by subprime or second mortgages, according to newsletter Inside MBS & ABS.
It was the seventh-largest issuer and sixth-largest underwriter of bonds backed by Alt-A loans, which are a step higher in credit quality. Issuers acquired and packaged the loans into securities, while underwriters sold the bonds that were created, including those created by others, to debt investors.
Open your eyes Ralph!!
