Bankruptcy Search - Name Records Search
Bankruptcy: Tax ID / SSN Search
Bankruptcy: Business Owner Search
Petra Fund REIT Wins Bankruptcy Stay Against Enforcement Of KBS Judgment
November 18, 2010 by Bankruptcy Search
Filed under Bankruptcy Help
The bankruptcy judge overseeing thereorganization of real-estate investment trust Petra Fund REITCorp. said she is unlikely to approve a creditor’s request foran investigation of possible asset transfers by the company.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman at a hearing today inManhattan did approve a motion by Petra that prevents thecreditor, KBS Preferred Holding I LLC, from pursuing enforcementof a $65.9 million judgment it won in June in a New York statecourt. KBS’s lawsuit sought to collect on a $50 million loan.
“I’m not giving authority to investigate,” Chapman toldlawyers for both sides. “They’ve got the right to somereasonable discovery,” she said of KBS’s request for Petra’sdocuments and possible depositions of witnesses. “My preferenceis that you try to work it out between the two of you.”
KBS said in a court filing yesterday that New York-basedPetra began transferring assets to affiliated companies in 2007.Among the assets were $136 million in mortgages or notes tied toreal-estate projects including condominiums on Manhattan’s UpperWest Side, KBS said.
Lawyers for Petra said in court that the filing was madelate last night and they didn’t have time to respond to it.
‘Lot of Allegations’
“We’d like some time to respond accordingly,” BrianGoldberg, a lawyer for Petra, told the judge. “There are a lotof allegations.”
KBS said in its motion that Petra filed for bankruptcyprotection last month after KBS sought documents relating tocompany assets and transfers.
Petra, listing assets of as much as $10 million andliabilities of as much as to $500 million, blamed its Chapter 11filing on “the extraordinary and unprecedented collapse of thecredit and commercial real estate markets.”
The REIT last year negotiated a plan support agreement withits secured lenders, JPMorgan Chase Co. ‘s Bear Stearns unitand Royal Bank of Scotland Plc that required a Chapter 11filing. Petra didn’t reach an accord with KBS, based in NewportBeach,
