A newly formed shareholder group is ready to rumble in Overseas Shipholding Group Inc.'s bankruptcy, arguing in its first court appearance that the shipping company's restructuring deal doesn't offer enough value to equity and is the product of "flawed" negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Appointed this week, the official committee of Overseas Shipholding's equity holders said that it needs time to investigate a deal that locks in the company's lenders to a restructuring deal that would see the lenders own nearly all of the company and pay creditors in full while leaving existing shareholders roughly $60 million in stock and warrants. Shareholder committee attorney Steven Pohl yesterday told Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh that shareholders believe there's "a whole lot more value" for equity than what the plan currently proposes. He accused the company and its lenders of pushing a restructuring strategy that ignores shareholders' interests.
