As Tucson-based mining company Asarco nears the end of its four-year bankruptcy odyssey, lead debtors counsel Baker Botts submitted its twelfth application for fees on Friday.
The filing put the firm past the $100 million mark in billable hours since Asarco filed for bankruptcy in August 2005 after getting hit with a series of asbestos and environmental pollution suits.
It pales in comparison to the $100 million in fees that Weil, Gotshal & Manges has racked up in just a year's worth of bankruptcy work for Lehman Brothers, but Baker Botts may have more work ahead.
"This is probably the middle of the end, and the end should certainly be in sight," Baker Botts bankruptcy and insolvency chair Jack Kinzie says. "The final closing argument on the confirmation hearing was today and we expect a ruling from the judge on Monday."
Two companies are competing to acquire Asarco and bring the company out of bankruptcy. The first plan is proposed by Asarco's parent, Grupo Mexico, which lost control of Asarco in Chapter 11. The second plan is a proposed sale of Asarco to Mumbai-based Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of London-based mining concern Vedanta Resources.
Asarco favors a sale to Sterlite, Kenzie says, but Grupo Mexico is trying to scuttle that deal with its own exit plan to retain control of Asarco.
To say the relationship between Asarco and its parent Grupo Mexico is contentious would be an understatement. Earlier this year Baker Botts trial lawyer G. Irvin Terrell won a breach of fiduciary duty case in an adversary proceeding against Grupo Mexico, which was represented by Haynes and Boone's Brian Antweil.
Haynes and Boone bankruptcy partner Charles Beckham Jr., is representing Grupo Mexico in the bankruptcy case along with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy global financial restructuring partner Robert Moore.
Asarco retained Baker Botts in March 2004 to develop a prepackaged bankruptcy plan for the company's subsidiaries. The subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in April 2005. When its union went on strike that July, Asarco filed for Chapter 11 a month later. (The union, represented by Richard Seltzer's from New York's Cohen, Weiss and Simon, is backing Sterlite's bankruptcy bid for Asarco.)
Since then, Baker Botts has been well compensated for its efforts. Bankruptcy court filings show the firm has billed Asarco for $101.8 million in fees and $5.5 million in expenses, including discounts. In Baker Bott's filing on Friday, the firm trimmed $120,000 from its fee request of $12.5 million for work completed between March 1 and June 30.
Shelby Jordan from Corpus Christi's Jordan, Hyden, Womble, Culbreth & Holzer is serving as local debtors counsel. Court records show the firm has submitted bills for $437,742 in fees and expenses.
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