Kaiser Aluminum Emerges from Chapter 11
July 06 2006 - 1:29PM
Business Wire
Competitive and Financial Strength Positions the Company for
Success; KALU Shares to Begin Trading on NASDAQ July 7 Kaiser
Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ: KALU) announced that its Plan of
Reorganization became effective today and the company has emerged
from Chapter 11. "Today is a great day for Kaiser Aluminum," said
Jack Hockema, Chairman, President and CEO of Kaiser Aluminum. "I
would like to express my gratitude to every one of our stakeholders
- customers, suppliers, employees and other partners - who stood by
us over the past four-plus years of challenging times. "The new
Kaiser Aluminum emerges with fabricated aluminum products as the
core business and is a vastly different company from the one that
filed for reorganization in early 2002. Non-strategic commodity
businesses were divested, and we have addressed all of the material
debt, legacy and asbestos-related liabilities that confronted the
company prior to bankruptcy. It is particularly gratifying that we
were able to develop a consensual plan that was overwhelmingly
accepted by our constituents. "We are very excited about the future
for Kaiser Aluminum. Our financial and competitive strength
positions us to grow and withstand the inevitable ebb and flow of
business cycles. We will continue organic growth with emphasis on
plate products, forgings and custom extrusions. Our current $75
million expansion initiative at the Spokane, Washington rolling
mill is the cornerstone of this strategy. In addition, we have an
excellent platform for external growth, and will consider
acquisitions that are complementary to our current business
structure with an emphasis on value creation for our shareholders.
"We remain intensely focused on providing Best In Class performance
for our customers. We will continue to produce a broad array of
fabricated aluminum products for customers that require highly
engineered applications while deploying lean enterprise principles
to be a low cost producer. "While our markets are cyclic, they are
growing. The global market for aerospace and high-strength products
is now exceptionally strong, and our customers forecast additional
usage of aluminum plate over the next several years. As energy
prices rise, demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles will provide
opportunities to grow our current business in the automotive
industry. Looking out beyond the current business cycle where the
industry is experiencing historically high pricing, we anticipate
our sales growth and cost reduction initiatives to cushion the
impact of prices returning to more normal levels," concluded
Hockema. Kaiser Aluminum began the distribution of shares of common
stock today. Shares will commence trading tomorrow, July 7, on
NASDAQ under the ticker symbol KALU. Additional information
regarding emergence related matters can be found in a current
report on Form 8-K that the company filed today with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. Kaiser Aluminum is a leading producer of
fabricated aluminum products for aerospace and high-strength,
general engineering, automotive and custom industrial applications.
For more information, please visit our Web site at
www.kaiseraluminum.com. Company press releases may contain
statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking
terminology such as "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates,"
"will," "should," "plans" or "anticipates" or the negative thereof
or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by
discussions of strategy. Kaiser cautions that such forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future events and involve
significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual events may
vary materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These
factors include the effectiveness of management's strategies and
decisions, general economic and business conditions, developments
in technology, new or modified statutory or regulatory
requirements, and changing prices and market conditions. Certain
sections of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended by
Form 10-K/A, identify other factors that could cause differences
between such forward-looking statements and actual results (for
example, see Item 1A. "Business -- Risk Factors" and Item 7.
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations"). No assurance can be given that these are
all of the factors that could cause actual results to vary
materially from the forward-looking statements.
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