Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK) backtracks as Chesapeake case heats up

Boston, MA 04/15/2013 (wallstreetpr) – The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK) (Closed: $28.45, Down by 0.70%) had argued that an extra interest of $400 million should be paid by Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) (Closed: $19.68, Down by 2.28%) to bondholders if it does not win the lawsuit that had been filed to redeem bonds worth $1.3 billion, at par. The notes are due in March and BNY Mellon acts as a trustee for them. The bank has changed its take on the “make-whole “payment. This included the interest that is gained through maturity.

Conclusion incorrect?

In a filing in a Manhattan Federal court America’s second-largest natural gas producer said that they do not want a judge to rule on this argument. The trial is scheduled to commence on April 23 and the Bank of New York Mellon will still be arguing at it. According to the filing, Chesapeake had missed the March 15 deadline for an early calling of the notes, at 100 cents to the dollar. Chesapeake said that the bank had reached this conclusion without acknowledging that it is correct. They said that if the notice that had been sent by Chesapeake was considered to be untimely, then the bank has no intentions of treating it as a trigger of a make-whole redemption.

Call-execution possibility

Last month, BNY Mellon had been sued by Chesapeake after the former said that it had received the notice too late and that it cannot be redeemed at par and that a make-whole redemption would be automatically triggered. The extra interest payment is not a threat any longer but the trial will still be able to determine if it would be possible for Chesapeake to execute the call and whether refinancing some of its debt at lower interest rates is still a possibility. Steven Bierman, the lawyer for Bank of New York Mellon’s declined to comment on the matter and the changed stand that the bank had taken. Paul Caminiti the Chesapeake spokesperson also declined commenting.

In its filing, the gas company said that BNY Mellon had threatened to move back to its previous position on the claim and that Chesapeake did not accept that the dispute can no longer be ruled upon and thus agreed to completely drop it from the case. This threat exactly precipitates why Chesapeake and the noteholders are interested in finding a final resolution for the issue.