Eastman Kodak press release: Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it and its US subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for chapter 11 business reorganisation in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Subsidiaries outside of the US are not subject to proceedings and will honour all obligations to suppliers, whenever incurred. Kodak and its US subsidiaries will honour all post-petition obligations to suppliers in the ordinary course.
(A new report on ABC radio on Friday quoted Kodak Australia as saying there would be no local job losses and it was ‘business as usual’. )
The business reorganisation is intended to bolster liquidity in the US and abroad, monetise non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the company to focus on its most valuable business lines. The company has made pioneering investments in digital and materials deposition technologies in recent years, generating approximately 75 percent of its revenue from digital businesses in 2011.
Kodak has obtained a fully-committed, $950 million debtor-in-possession credit facility with an 18-month maturity from Citigroup to enhance liquidity and working capital. The credit facility is subject to Court approval and other conditions precedent. The company believes that it has sufficient liquidity to operate its business during chapter 11, and to continue the flow of goods and services to its customers in the ordinary course.
Kodak expects to pay employee wages and benefits and continue customer programs.
‘Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation,’ said Antonio M. Perez, chairman and CEO. ‘At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003. Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetising non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company.
‘After considering the advantages of chapter 11 at this time, the board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,’ Mr. Perez continued. ‘Our goal is to maximise value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers.
‘Chapter 11 gives us the best opportunities to maximise the value in two critical parts of our technology portfolio: our digital capture patents, which are essential for a wide range of mobile and other consumer electronic devices that capture digital images and have generated over $3 billion of licensing revenues since 2003; and our breakthrough printing and deposition technologies, which give Kodak a competitive advantage in our growing digital businesses.’
Kodak has taken this step after preliminary discussions with key constituencies and intends to work toward a consensual reorganization in the best interests of its stakeholders. Kodak expects to complete its US-based restructuring during 2013.
The company and its board of directors are being advised by Lazard, FTI Consulting Inc. and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. In addition, Dominic DiNapoli, vice chairman of FTI Consulting, will serve as chief restructuring officer to support the management team as to restructuring matters during the chapter 11 case.
More information about Kodak’s Chapter 11 filing is available on the Internet at www.kodaktransforms.com. Information for suppliers and vendors is available at (800) 544-7009 or (585) 724-6100.
Kodak will be filing monthly operating reports with the Bankruptcy Court and also plans to post these monthly operating reports on the Investor Relations section of Kodak.com. The company will continue to file quarterly and annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will also be available in the Investor Relations section of Kodak.com.
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