Delaware court decision favors ATR KimEng

Publicly-listed ATR KimEng Financial Corp. and its subsidiary ATR KimEng Capital Partners Inc. disclosed recently that the decision of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware in favor of ATR KimEng against businessman Carlos R. Araneta has been entered in the State of California for purposes of enforcing that judgment.

In its report to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), ATR KimEng said that in December of 2006, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware ruled in favor of ATR KimEng in its case against LBC chairman Carlos R. Araneta, LBC Bank president Liza Berenguer, and LBC USA president Hugo Bonilla.

The court required Araneta, Berenguer, and Bonilla "to jointly and severally pay ATR KimEng the amount of $24.49 million representing a damages award and pre-judgment interest, plus post-judgment interest and collection costs."

The Delaware judgment was registered in the Alameda County Superior Court and the California court has issued a series of orders to aid in ATR KimEng’s enforcement efforts.

"Those efforts have resulted in the attachment of $544,000 from accounts of (Mr.) Hugo Bonilla in Mission National Bank," ATR KimEng Financial director and executive vice president Renato Leveriza Jr. said in a press statement based on its PSE report.

"These are currently in the possession of the Sheriff of the City and County of San Francisco, California," Leveriza added.

ATR KimEng said that in support of the enforcement efforts, it filed a separate lawsuit in San Mateo County, California against Bonilla and Monica Araneta, the daughter of Mr. Araneta.

Leveriza explained that the lawsuit alleges that Bonilla transferred title to certain real property in Hillsborough, California, which is worth millions of dollars, to Monica Araneta for only $100 in a fraudulent attempt to protect the property from the Delaware judgment.

The executive vice president also reported that Bonilla, who is president of LBC companies in the United States, had filed for personal bankruptcy in the US Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco.

ATR KimEng Capital filed a case against Araneta, Hugo Bonilla, Ma. Eliza Berenguer, and Marites Vicente for waste and breach of fiduciary duty over the disappearance of substantial assets of LBC Global Corp. without any notice, explanation, or documentation.

ATR KimEng has a 10-percent interest in LBC Global, the Delaware-based holding company of the LBC Group.