GLW Corning Inc

By Patrick Fitzgerald 

After more than 16 years under court protection, Pittsburgh Corning Corp., the joint venture between PPG Industries Inc. and Corning Inc., emerged from its asbestos-related bankruptcy Wednesday.

The Pittsburgh Corning plan channels claims against the company's non-bankrupt parents to a $3.5 billion trust that was set up under the plan to absorb asbestos liabilities. The trust, one of the country's largest, is being funded by PPG, Corning and their insurers.

Pittsburgh Corning, a maker of glass-based insulation materials used in construction and oil and gas pipelines, spent the first five years in bankruptcy on protecting and preserving its assets.

"When it became apparent that Pittsburgh Corning's time in bankruptcy was going to be extended, our focus expanded to include strategic actions designed to reinvent our business," said James R. Kane, the company's chief executive.

Pittsburgh Corning is one of many large companies attempting to use bankruptcy to survive an onslaught of claims for asbestos damage. The bankruptcy code allows companies to set up trust funds to pay claims, insulating their future operating funds from potential liabilities.

The trust resolves all of the Pittsburgh Corning's asbestos personal injury claims, including those filed in the future.

In 2002, PPG agreed to pay $2.7 billion to resolve all of its asbestos-related personal-injury litigation through Pittsburgh Corning's bankruptcy proceedings. About a year later, Corning reached a deal to settle all asbestos claims against Corning and Pittsburgh Corning.

In 2013, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Judith Fitzgerald confirmed Pittsburgh Corning's bankruptcy plan. Judge Fitzgerald had rejected an earlier version of the plan because it improperly extended protection from liability to the company's corporate parents.

Founded in 1937, Pittsburgh Corning made pipe insulation containing asbestos from 1962 to 1972. In April 2000, the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, when it became apparent that defending and settling an additional 235,000 claims would exhaust its resources before they could be resolved.

Write to Patrick Fitzgerald at patrick.fitzgerald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2016 09:14 ET (13:14 GMT)

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