After 'doomed' $40 million effort to sell China Fishery, trustee fights for $16 million fee
Opponents to the fee argue Brandt's 'unwillingness to change course ultimately imposed significant unnecessary costs on CFG Peru's estate and its creditors.'
William Brandt, Jr., the former trustee for China Fishery Group, a subsidiary of Pacific Andes International Holdings, is fighting a group of creditors for fees of over $16 million (€15 million) awarded to him in January for his work overseeing the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The fees awarded Brandt are specifically for his time serving as a guardian between Nov. 10, 2016, through June 24, 2021, according to court documents.
The creditor plan proponents, which filed an appeal against Brandt's award fee in February, include Burlington Loan Management DAC and Monarch Alternative Capital.
The ad hoc creditor group represents holders of China Fishery Group's senior notes and club loans.
In a filing with the court Feb. 10, the creditors asked the court to establish a process to objectively assess the reasonableness of the hours that the trustee charged in this case.
The creditor plan proponents said "it was clear that the trustee's sale process was doomed to fail."
They say in the filing that three years after the group proposed an alternative restructuring plan, "Brandt billed a total of approximately $5.6 million for 6,512 hours of work, some of which he spent fighting a creditor-backed restructuring process."
"They also assert the trustee's alleged unwillingness to change course ultimately imposed significant unnecessary costs on CFG Peru's estate and its creditors."
On Feb. 17, attorneys for Brandt filed a motion to compel the fee payment, which the appeal has so far prevented from being completed, according to court documents.
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