- Voyager Digital has rejected Alameda’s takeover offer.
- The offer would favor Alameda and harm customers.
- Voyager prefers its own proposal for restructuring.
Centralized crypto lender Voyager Digital Holdings has rejected an offer from FTX and its investment arm Alameda Ventures. Alameda has offered to buy the digital assets. As a justification, Voyager stated that the measures were “not maximizing value” and would potentially “harm customers”.
In a rejection letter filed in court on Sunday as part of the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Voyager’s lawyers rejected Friday’s offer by FTX, FTX US and Alameda to take over all of Voyager’s assets and outstanding loans (with the exception of the defaulted loan to Three Arrows Capital).
The letter states that the publication of such offers could jeopardize other potential deals, as it would undermine “a coordinated, confidential, competitive bidding process”. It further stated that “AlamedaFTX has violated numerous obligations to the debtors and the bankruptcy court”.
The representatives of Voyager say that the plan they proposed to restructure the company is better, since it would make all the cash of customers and a large part of their cryptocurrency available as soon as possible.
You have all heard the terms “hero,” “bailout,” “rescue,” and “help” in reference to FTX saving distressed companies. Voyager, one of the aforementioned companies, disagrees – they think that SBF’s deal is extremely predatory and will actually hurt customers even more. https://t.co/l726t4U4RR pic.twitter.com/NeARz3lRiP
– FatMan (@FatManTerra) July 24, 2022
Voyager filed for bankruptcy on July 5 in the Southern District of New York due to insolvency. This was triggered by the crypto hedge fund 3AC, which could not repay a $ 650 million loan.
On Friday, the three companies, led by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, offered Voyager a deal in which Alameda would acquire all of Voyager’s assets and use FTX or FTX US to sell them and distribute them proportionately to users affected by the bankruptcy.
In a press release from FTX, Bankman-Fried said his proposal is a way for Voyager users to make up for their losses and leave the platform behind:
“Voyager’s customers did not want to become bankrupt investors with unsecured receivables. The goal of our joint proposal is to find a better solution for an insolvent crypto company.”
Bankman-Fried reiterated on Twitter on Sunday the motives of his company behind the proposal to take over Voyager. He explained that Voyager’s customers had “already been through enough” and should be able to claim their assets as soon as possible if they want to, as bankruptcy proceedings “can take years”.
13) Anyway: in the end, we think Voyager’s customers should have the right to quickly claim their remaining assets if they want, without rent seeking in the middle.
They’ve been through enough already.
– SBF (@SBF_FTX) July 25, 2022
On Sunday, Voyager’s lawyers said that the deal, which is supposed to compensate Voyager users, is basically just a liquidation of the Voyager assets “in a way that favors AlamedaFTX”.
In addition, six ways in which the proposal could “harm customers” were highlighted, including the tax consequences for capital gains, the unfair limitation of the value of Voyager users’ accounts to the value of July 5, and the actual abolition of the VGX token, which would “immediately destroy more than $ 100 million in value”.
“AlamedaFTX’s proposal is nothing more than a liquidation of cryptocurrencies in a way that favors AlamedaFTX. It is a bad offer, disguised as a rescue by a white knight.”
The letter also rejected speculation that AlamedaFTX had a greater chance of winning takeover bids due to the existing relations between the two companies: “Nothing could be further from the truth, as this answer proves.”
Bankman-Fried has made takeover offers to several companies over the course of the bear crypto market. On July 1, Zac Prince, CEO of centralized crypto lender BlockFi, signed a deal for FTX, under which the company is expected to receive a $ 240 million loan. In addition, there was a takeover option worth a total of 640 million US dollars.
