Coastal Corp said it will file analternate proposal to reorganize TransAmerican Natural Gas
Corp, the privately-owned Texas firm in bankruptcy, on April
15.
    Coastal said the proposal will be filed with the bankruptcy
court and is expected to be heard on April 29 and 30, along
with TransAmerican's separately filed reorganization plan.
    In a letter to shareholders indicting TransAmerican's
campaign to thwart a takeover, Coastal said TransAmerican "has
mounted a campaign in Texas to smear Coastal and misrepresent
its intentions."
    The letter, written by Coastal Chairman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr
and President James R. Paul, exhorted shareholders to "consider
TransAmerican's smear campgian for what it is--a misguided
attempt to bias the outcome of the bankruptcy proceedings by a
company with an unsavory business reputation and a history of
being in bankruptcy for nine of the past 12 years."
    TransAmerican said it had not seen the letter, and could
not comment. TransAmerican's lawyer, John Nabors, was not
immediately available for comment.
    The letter sent to all Coastal employees and stockholders
in Texas also accused John R. Stanley, TransAmerican's owner,
of prospering by the companies' bankruptcy by drawing a salary
of 300,000 dlrs a year from his bankrupt companies.
    It also said that at the end of July 1986, Stanley owed his
bankrupt companies 874,000 dlrs in unpaid interest-free loans.
"His creditors may suffer but Mr. Stanley does quite well in
bankruptcy," said the letter.
 Reuter
