Just a thought experiment... not saying that I think Hs are or should be classified as preferreds... but a little calculation to put the Hs' (i.e. hedgies) potential quandary into perspective if this is how things were to turn out...
In the last DS the Hs were the lowest class estimated to have a significant recovery, and that recovery estimated at 74% (based on trustee-negotiated principal value, with no post-petition interest). The value of the Hs claim is $765M, so we can calculate that the Hs as a class have an estimated recovery of:
74% of $765M = $566M
Now if Hs were deemed to be preferreds they would be lumped into a new class with Ps, Ks, and (apparently from one of today's other rulings) the TPS.
Values:
Hs = $765M
Ps = $3000M
Ks = $500M
TPS = $4000M
TOTAL preferreds = $8265M
That's a total for the new preferreds class (containing Hs) of $8265M, which would have to be shared by all four components of the class. The estimate from DS is that Hs were going to get 74% = $566M of recovery, so the recovery for this new preferreds class would be:
$566M / $8265M = 6.85%
Applying that percent recovery to each class to get the share price (Hs value at 100% would be $765M / 23M shares = $33.26/share):
Hs: 6.85% of $33.26 = $2.28/share
Ps: 6.85% of $1000 = $68.50/share
Ks: 6.85% of $25 = $1.71/share
TPS: [??]
So if this scenario of Hs being dumped into the preferred class (and bringing their $, no other claims inserted above by Rosen, etc) were to come true, Hs, which are now trading at around $23, would have a value of well under $3, whereas Ps, which are now trading around $20, would have a value of close to $70. Not only might the hedgies lose their iron grip on the reorg WMI, but their massive ownership of Hs would not be worth nearly as much as they expected (about 10% of its current value).