The bankruptcy trustees Michiel Gorsira and Robert van Beemen – from the Dutch Caribbean law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne – will start a first interim distribution of approximately USD 600 million to the creditors in the bankruptcy of the Curaçao based Lehman Brothers Securities N.V. on Monday 8 July 2013.
Following the worldwide bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, the Curaçao entity was declared bankrupt on 30 January 2009. Since then, the trustees have settled with among others the largest debtor – Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. from New York – for an amount of USD 5,2 billion, and with the largest creditor – Lehman Brothers Finance SA from Switzerland – for an amount of USD 4,4 billion. On the claims admission meeting on 14 December 2012, which took place at the Court of Justice in Curaçao, claims for a total of USD 770 million based on the Warrants & Certificates issued by the Curaçao Lehman Brothers were also acknowledged.
Lehman Brothers Securities N.V. issued complex structured finance products to mostly professional investors. On the date of the bankruptcy, approximately USD 12 billion worth of face value was placed on the market, of which approximately USD 1 billion was actually sold to investors. The value of these Warrants & Certificates was subject to an underlying value; varying from shares in energy companies to the Vietnamese housing market. Due to a lack of documentation and other issues, reconciling the complete portfolio of Warrants & Certificates on the market and its value was very complex and time-consuming.
Robert van Beemen, bankruptcy trustee Lehman Brothers Securities N.V., says about this first interim distribution: "When we started working on the settlement of the bankruptcy of Curaçao Lehman Brothers four years ago, we had USD 400 on its local account and a few boxes of files and records at its office to work with. The fact that, four years later, the creditors receive a first distribution of USD 600 million, is the result of an excellent cooperation of all parties involved."