Repsol (REPYY.PK) warns that it will sue any companies that invest in YPF (YPF -4%) following Argentina's nationalization last week. The government has approached Petrobras and intends to contact the likes of Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhilips (COP), although why they'd want to go anywhere near Argentina is another question. [View news story]
It is true that international oil companies (IOCs) like ConocoPhillips (COP) prefer to deal with a dictator who takes bribes as quid pro quo for inequitable production sharing contracts (PSC) that are used as "legal" license to steal the oil and gas resources belonging to the people the dictator oppresses.
As ConocoPhillips Chairman James J. Mulva only recently learned from his experience in dealing with Libyan dictator Gaddafi, the victims of criminal conspiracies like the Mulva-Gaddafi arrangement will eventually take forceful action to prevent further theft of their property, and the shareholders of the IOCs will demand will eventually take legal action to recover the damages caused to the IOCs share price as its directors are prosecuted for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). See http://UnCoverUp.net.
IOCs' boards would serve their shareholders better by demanding that management do a full-cycle accounting comparison between the ultimate costs, including to company reputation, to do honest business in countries like Argentina, Norway, etc. and to do corrupt business in dictatorships like Gaddafi's Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, etc.
ConocoPhillips' Yield Should Surpass 5% - And Soon [View article]
The short-term promise of high dividends is bait to get COP shareholders on the hook for shares of the bankruptcy-bound PSX. However, the indemnity agreements that COP's lawyers extorted from PSX's management will ultimately fail to shield COP "shareholder value" from legal liabilities arising from toxic tort claims arising from COP's leaking underground storage tanks (LUST), leaking pipelines, closing uneconomical refineries, etc.
The board at ConocoPhillips (COP) has OK'd the spinoff of refining business Phillips 66 (to trade on NYSE as PSX effective after the April 30 close). A tax-free share distribution (one share of PSX for every two held of COP on April 16) will fulfill the deal. [View news story]
The market will determine the “value” of ConocoPhillips (COP) and Phillips 66 (PSX) shares. The lawyer-lobbyers (“lawbyers”) employed by the COP Board have promoted the spinoff as a means of unlocking COP shareholder value in disclosures to the public markets mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Careful reading of the public disclosures by COP and PSX in SEC filings reveal that COP lawbyers have used COP-PSX indemnity agreements to green-wash COP of environmental and toxic tort liabilities, leaving COP asset-rich with the oil/gas reserves accumulated using money made selling the refined petroleum products that created the environmental and toxic tort liabilities that COP is now dumping into a bankruptcy-bound PSX. (See COP’s Form 10-12B/A, Exhibit 99.1 available on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website http://sec.gov).
When the validity of the COP-PSX indemnity agreements are eventually tested in the toxic tort (for damages caused by leaking unground storage tanks, poorly maintained refineries, etc.) and bankruptcy litigation against PSX, the market “value” of COP and PSX will fall. The fall in market value will attract class-action securities lawbyers who will tie up COP and PSX shareholders’ claims in years of litigation that in the end will only enrich the lawbyers who defend/prosecute the litigation and leave shareholders with pennies on the dollar in recovery.
The board at ConocoPhillips (COP) has OK'd the spinoff of refining business Phillips 66 (to trade on NYSE as PSX effective after the April 30 close). A tax-free share distribution (one share of PSX for every two held of COP on April 16) will fulfill the deal. [View news story]
Great!!! That establishes ConocoPhillips board's scienter as one of the elements needed for securities fraud claims under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
ConocoPhilips Ready To Break Out In 2012 [View article]
The "pumpers" here should do some due diligence and read the Form 10 and Form S-3 that COP and PSX (Phillips 66) filed in seeking SEC approval of this Reverse Morris Trust (RMT) spin-off transaction. These filings show that PSX is being saddled with debt and indemnifications of COP's toxic tort liabilities (remember all those COP-branded refineries and gas stations around the world leaking toxins into groundwater?).
It is unlikely that courts will allow COP to escape toxic tort liabilities using the contrived indemnification agreements and an orchestrated PSX's bankruptcy. Consequently, the COP lawyers who cooked up this spin-off are only making work for their professional colleagues who will prosecute and defend, at COP shareholder expense, the shareholder class action that are sure to follow. Take a look at what happened to and continues to happen to Halliburton following the companies attempt to spin-off asbestos liabilities into D-II Industries. (USDC-TXNDC Case 3:02-cv-0115 pending in federal court for ten years).
Some homework on these SEC filings, as surely SEC lawyers will do before the transaction is approved/disapproved, suggests a more cautious investment strategy.
Pre-spin-off: COP May long strangle (if available) to benefit from Mr. Smith's projected up-jump of 8-10% if the SEC approves the spin-off, and to benefit from the probable down-jump of 8-10% if the SEC does not approve the spin-off.
Post-spin-off: long COP, short PSX until COP drops the dividend bait that was used to attract pre-spin-off shareholders so that they could be stuck with the shares of an essentially bankrupt PSX.
Why ConocoPhillips Is Not Attractive At These Prices [View article]
Good analysis. The dividend increase is bait by COP's BOD to get shareholders to buy before the spin-off of Phillips 66. Investors who are considering buy COP before the spin-off are advised to read the Form 10-12B/A, Exhibit 99.1 available on the SEC EDGAR site (http://1.usa.gov/Awuz3X). In particular, the sections in the Information Statement and the attached financial statement regarding the environmental liabilities COP is attempting to dump upon pre-spin-off shareholders in the form of Phillips 66 stock. The plan will leave COP virtually free of environmental liabilities and cash-rich from the sale of Phillips 66 and other "assets." The new COP will be ripe for greenmail takeover by private equity. Advice: Keep your power dry until after the spin-off, then buy the cash-rich and greenmail-ripe COP.
ConocoPhillips: Should You Buy Before Or After The Split? [View article]
The "...few legal hoops remaining..." before the split can be consummated may be larger hoops than ConocoPhillips' public relations and stock pitchmen are revealing. As TaiPan observes, the peddling of the idea that the split will "unlock shareholder value" is unjustified hype that my amount to fraud upon the markets. This begs the question as to why ConocoPhillips Chairman Mulva and the inattentive boys/girls on his board are making the move so soon after the merger of Conoco and Phillips, and just before Mulva's retirement. One explanation maybe that Mulva and his attorneys are rushing to split the company into two parts--right after Department of State (DoS) cables published by WikiLeaks appear to show that Mulva had willfully violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in his dealings with Libyan dictator Gaddafi. (See "ConocoPhillips Shareholder Proposal -- 2012" at http://UnCoverUp.net.) Under these circumstances, the contemplated spin-off should be subject to INFORMED shareholder approval/disapproval; delayed until Mulva retires (or is indicted), and stockholders can elect an alert Board who were not complicit in Mulva's dealings with the Gaddafi regime.
ConocoPhillips Management Discusses Q1 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript [View article]
Repsol (REPYY.PK) warns that it will sue any companies that invest in YPF (YPF -4%) following Argentina's nationalization last week. The government has approached Petrobras and intends to contact the likes of Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhilips (COP), although why they'd want to go anywhere near Argentina is another question. [View news story]
As ConocoPhillips Chairman James J. Mulva only recently learned from his experience in dealing with Libyan dictator Gaddafi, the victims of criminal conspiracies like the Mulva-Gaddafi arrangement will eventually take forceful action to prevent further theft of their property, and the shareholders of the IOCs will demand will eventually take legal action to recover the damages caused to the IOCs share price as its directors are prosecuted for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). See http://UnCoverUp.net.
IOCs' boards would serve their shareholders better by demanding that management do a full-cycle accounting comparison between the ultimate costs, including to company reputation, to do honest business in countries like Argentina, Norway, etc. and to do corrupt business in dictatorships like Gaddafi's Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, etc.
ConocoPhillips' Yield Should Surpass 5% - And Soon [View article]
ConocoPhillips' CEO Hosts Phillips 66 Analyst Update Conference Call (Transcript) [View article]
The board at ConocoPhillips (COP) has OK'd the spinoff of refining business Phillips 66 (to trade on NYSE as PSX effective after the April 30 close). A tax-free share distribution (one share of PSX for every two held of COP on April 16) will fulfill the deal. [View news story]
When the validity of the COP-PSX indemnity agreements are eventually tested in the toxic tort (for damages caused by leaking unground storage tanks, poorly maintained refineries, etc.) and bankruptcy litigation against PSX, the market “value” of COP and PSX will fall. The fall in market value will attract class-action securities lawbyers who will tie up COP and PSX shareholders’ claims in years of litigation that in the end will only enrich the lawbyers who defend/prosecute the litigation and leave shareholders with pennies on the dollar in recovery.
The board at ConocoPhillips (COP) has OK'd the spinoff of refining business Phillips 66 (to trade on NYSE as PSX effective after the April 30 close). A tax-free share distribution (one share of PSX for every two held of COP on April 16) will fulfill the deal. [View news story]
ConocoPhilips Ready To Break Out In 2012 [View article]
It is unlikely that courts will allow COP to escape toxic tort liabilities using the contrived indemnification agreements and an orchestrated PSX's bankruptcy. Consequently, the COP lawyers who cooked up this spin-off are only making work for their professional colleagues who will prosecute and defend, at COP shareholder expense, the shareholder class action that are sure to follow. Take a look at what happened to and continues to happen to Halliburton following the companies attempt to spin-off asbestos liabilities into D-II Industries. (USDC-TXNDC Case 3:02-cv-0115 pending in federal court for ten years).
Some homework on these SEC filings, as surely SEC lawyers will do before the transaction is approved/disapproved, suggests a more cautious investment strategy.
Pre-spin-off: COP May long strangle (if available) to benefit from Mr. Smith's projected up-jump of 8-10% if the SEC approves the spin-off, and to benefit from the probable down-jump of 8-10% if the SEC does not approve the spin-off.
Post-spin-off: long COP, short PSX until COP drops the dividend bait that was used to attract pre-spin-off shareholders so that they could be stuck with the shares of an essentially bankrupt PSX.
Why ConocoPhillips Is Not Attractive At These Prices [View article]
ConocoPhillips: Should You Buy Before Or After The Split? [View article]
One explanation maybe that Mulva and his attorneys are rushing to split the company into two parts--right after Department of State (DoS) cables published by WikiLeaks appear to show that Mulva had willfully violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in his dealings with Libyan dictator Gaddafi. (See "ConocoPhillips Shareholder Proposal -- 2012" at http://UnCoverUp.net.)
Under these circumstances, the contemplated spin-off should be subject to INFORMED shareholder approval/disapproval; delayed until Mulva retires (or is indicted), and stockholders can elect an alert Board who were not complicit in Mulva's dealings with the Gaddafi regime.