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When the Hunts were forced to borrow $1.1 billion to cover losses in the silver debacle, they pledged their corporate holdings as collateral. But because their wealth was concentrated in oil, sugar and real estate businesses -- all of which have foundered in the 1980s -- the Hunts' personal trusts and the companies they own have been driven to bankruptcy court. The sparring for control has been contentious: in 1986 the Hunts filed a $14 billion lawsuit against 23 banks that once extended credit to the clan, accusing the institutions of conspiracy to defraud them by shutting off credit. The banks answered with a countersuit.
Both sides have tentatively agreed to drop their suits as part of reorganization plans for Placid and Penrod. Under the Hunts' proposed terms, Placid Oil would repay its creditors with $800 million in cash and notes. To finance the payback, the Hunts would slash the company's size by selling off assets that include Louisiana's Black Lake oil and gas fields and a minority interest in Dallas' gleaming 60-story Thanksgiving Tower. To keep a hand in Penrod, one of the world's largest offshore drilling companies, the Hunts would give the banks a 50% stake in the firm.
The Hunts still hope that their luck will change in one swift stroke. They are counting on the Green Canyon oil and natural-gas fields, situated 1,500 ft. beneath the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico. The Hunts hold leases on the property, and are spending some $300 million to get production started. Though some experts view Green Canyon as a dangerous gamble, the Hunts believe the field could prove fabulously profitable.
So far, the Hunts have made only a few personal concessions. Bunker, a collector of Thoroughbred horses, sold 580 of the animals earlier this year for a reported $47 million. He and Herbert unloaded 1,400 acres of land near San Diego for $72 million. Lamar still owns the Kansas City Chiefs football team, and all the brothers retain substantial personal assets -- in cash, bonds, real estate and coin and art collections.
But the silver-crash lawsuits could start to pinch the Hunts' style, because the judgments are levied against the brothers as individuals, rather than their trusts or companies. Already the Hunts have shown some surprising frugality. When they left the federal courthouse in Manhattan last Thursday afternoon, no limousine was waiting. Like hundreds of New Yorkers around them, they went underground, paid $1 apiece and got on the subway.