ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 30, 1996 TAG: 9612020040
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CINCINNATI
SOURCE: Associated Press
EAGLE-PICHER has emerged from bankruptcy through a reorganization plan which turns ownership over to asbestos victims.
Asbestos defendant Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. on Friday emerged from the bankruptcy reorganization it entered nearly six years ago, turning over ownership to victims of asbestos and lead poisoning.
The company, parent of Wolverine Gasket and Manufacturing Co. in Blacksburg, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1991 after thousands of people filed lawsuits alleging health problems from exposure to asbestos in a pipe-sealing compound Eagle-Picher made from 1934 through 1971. The compound was used in shipbuilding.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Burton Perlman approved the company's reorganization plan last week. It took effect Friday.
Under the plan, the health claims will be diverted to a trust for handling, the company said.
The trust gets all the outstanding common stock of the reorganized Eagle-Picher, $337 million in notes due over the next ten years and $50 million cash.
The company, which makes auto parts and industrial products, negotiated last summer with creditors to work out the reorganization plan. It limited the company's liability for present and future asbestos health claims to $2 billion.
The plan provides for payment of 37 cents for each dollar of claims by the 150,000 people who suffered asbestos-caused health problems. Also to receive 37 cents on the dollar will be several thousand unsecured creditors who presented claims totaling $157 million.
About $20 million in secured claims are to be paid in full.
Shareholders, who have the lowest priority under bankruptcy law, receive nothing for their shares.
The Cincinnati-based company's operations have been profitable during the reorganization. The company's products include power supplies for communications satellites, and engineered products and plastic trim parts for the auto industry.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB