Breitburn Energy
Breitburn Energy is an energy company. Their main focus is developing, acquiring, and exploiting natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil in the United States. Their locations are diverse with holdings in seven different geographic areas.
In May 2016, Breitburn filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The shareholders had cause to worry. The valuation of assets would determine what they got paid for their shares.
Shortly thereafter, the common stock with the ticker symbol BBEP got changed to BBEPQ. The Series A Cumulative Perpetual Preferred stock got changed to BBPPQ. The “Q” added after the ticker symbol means that a company is in bankruptcy.
Breitburn Energy became delisted by NASDAQ in June 2016. Near the end of July in 2016, came the release of the operating report. When it came, it was misleading, and needed adjustment.
In August, there was a hearing. The purpose was to evaluate proposed bonuses for key executives in Breitburn. These potential bonuses ranged from $5 – $11 million dollars. In mid October, shareholders won the right to form a special committee. This committee would represent them in the bankruptcy proceedings.
There is a concern that shareholders will lose the value of their shares in the company. They may also be hit with a huge income tax burden, depending on the outcome of the hearings.