Frontier Communications Corp. is taking fire from creditors over a proposed pay package for investment bank Evercore Group LLC that critics said could add up to $129 million, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The telecommunications company disclosed the fee details in filings before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., where Frontier is pushing to strip equity from public shareholders and turn unsecured bondholders into owners while wiping out $10 billion in debt. Frontier needs permission to pay Evercore from April 14, the date of the bankruptcy filing, onward. Before filing for bankruptcy, the company already paid $29 million for Evercore’s work over the prior year. Add in the services during bankruptcy, and Evercore would collect at least $63 million and perhaps as much as $129 million, according to unsecured creditors that are unhappy with the arrangement. The official unsecured creditors' committee said that Evercore’s fees should be subject to a cap set by Frontier, and are way above market. For example, Lazard Ltd.’s fees on the PG&E Corp. bankruptcy are capped at $35 million and Moelis & Co.’s fees for advising iHeartMedia Inc. on its bankruptcy were capped at $67.5 million, according to the committee’s objection.
