The trial is currently set for March 2-March 6
A Omnibus hearing is set for February 12.
Some really interesting talking points here beyond "Is this a Lease?"
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4322759-windstream-and-uniti-group-are-finally-headed-to-trial
Who are the lr5? Tony, Bob, Kenny? Other 2?
"Fact of the matter is the lease was never finalized so Judge Drain can easily rule this is incomplete and not valid.
How is that? I've never heard this before.
The bottom line is on Windstream’s financial reports the lease payments are listed as principal and interest, and assets are owned by Windstream.
Fact of the matter is the lease was never finalized so Judge Drain can easily rule this is incomplete and not valid.
Remember both Uniti and Windstream stole monies from the Windstream unsecured creditors so Drain will return what is legally theirs.
Aurelius indicated this and Judge Furman confirmed it.
Game over!
Teetee said we would win the Aurelius lawsuit bc he had too. He’s just doing his job.
The LR5 has alot of stock in Uniti, they are all friends and family. The LR5 are out at Windstream in the coming months, they want these payments to continue as it helps them financially.
Too cute by half?
It's not a sale & leaseback. It's collateral for a loan. So sayeth TT, so sayeth head of legal, so sayeth we all.
Except Auerlius. And the judge.
IMO the REIT was created to specifically protect Windstream from being sold off during bankruptcy. The executives had a good idea Windstream was on a fast path to default, however Aureullis expedited the process when they identified the debt covenant regarding sale and leaseback. The Windstream/EarthLink deal was pretty bad. Where is all the savings from being able to use Earhlink long haul.
These statement pretty much sum it up for me. TT made poor decisions when he created UNIT. Copper doesn't make sense in most of the markets that they are in, along with that is most of the TDM network.
Also, much like a car rental it amortizes and deprecates month by month. The value of the asset does not take technological change into account.
"The WIN's arguments at the trial will be to focus on 3 and 4. The copper cables may have a useful life of 40-50 years, but because the competitive advantages new fiber optics have, copper cables will be "economically obsolete" before the end of the initial lease term."
"Rent was not structured to match the value of the leased network over time. Rent instead was structured to ensure an adequate rate of return for Uniti, to mimic traditional REIT leases with appreciating assets, and to ensure robust dividends to Windstream’s and Uniti’s common investors. (§ 216) In UNIT's answer, they just denied the allegations"
Two things:
Under bankrupcty code some leases can be reclassified as loans.
The car analogy is interesting to me. The argument being made is that the underlying asset has such a low value compared to the payments that it is effectively a financing agreement because the collateral is effectively worthless to the creditor (Uniti in this case). This is not the argument we made at trial with Aurelius I believe but a completely separate one that takes advantage of the bankruptcy code I mentioned in the first statement.
Dirty pool either way.
I received no sunshine up my a–......who can I speak to about this?
"If you lease a car for 48 months" Exactly! TT will get up in front of a camera while the entire company is going up in flames and say its never been better. The minute TT or any of the other LR5 say things aren't good. People will jump ship faster than they are now. Its his job to sit there and blow sunshine up our a%%
If you lease a car for 48 months and put 100,000 miles on it in 36 months You are responsible for maintenance and if you stop making payments bc newer cars have come out, then the lien holder repos the car. It’s not acceptable to walk away from the lease bc newer cars hit the market.
I’ve heard the phrase “but Tony Said” so many times. Do you think Tony would tell you what is really going on? It’s their job to make everything sound good, right up until the moment the ship sinks. Just remember this, he can’t tell you what’s happening behind closed doors and he must tell you everything is going to be ok. You have to make your own decisions based Vs what people tell you. IE if you believed we were going to win the Aurelius lawsuit, you lost money in Windstream stock. If you looked at the facts, you sold your stock at a loss to avoid the future that was on the horizon.You can’t blame your unwillingness to look at the facts and then blame executives.
The judge in the Aureullis case said it was a lease.