The trustees of bankrupt aircraft manufacturer Fokker expect to make initial payments to ordinary creditors in September - more than nine months later than originally planned - following settlement of a legal dispute with the Dutch tax authorities.
Trustees have also reached agreement with American Airlines and US Airways over large disputed claims, so that payments to acknowledged ordinary creditors will be higher than expected, with most receiving 60% of what they are owed. A total of DFl860 million ($415 million) will be paid out.
Large single beneficiaries will include former Fokker parent DaimlerChrysler (DFl117 million), US Airways (DFl17 million) and Lufthansa CityLine (DFl13 million). Banks and other financial institutions that have bought claims from creditors since the bankruptcy will receive DFl337 million between them.
The tax authority, which had demanded DFl560 million, has agreed to limit its claim to a maximum of DFl140 million, allowing payments to ordinary creditors to proceed. Preferred creditors, entitled to have their claims settled in full, were paid last year.
The trustees warn that Teleflex Control Systems, which recently submitted a $500 million claim relating to the crash of a TAM Fokker 100 at Sao Paulo in 1996, could lodge an objection to the latest distribution. But they say the product liability insurance of Fokker Aircraft "offers adequate cover" should it be required.
Source: Flight International
