DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Plastics and fluids vendor Milacron Inc. (MZIAQ) officially
exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday as it completed the
$175 million sale of its businesses to a pair of hedge funds.
The new Milacron LLC firm, now held by Avenue Capital Group and
DDJ Capital Management LLC, will be led by Dennis Smith as
president and chief executive. Through the bankruptcy effort,
Milacron cut its liabilities by $500 million, including an 80% debt
reduction.
Avenue and DDJ provided Milacron with a new $75 million
second-lien term loan, in addition to a new $55 million credit line
from Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Bank of America Corp.
(BAC).
In June, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. took over Milacron's
underfunded pension plan as part of its exit from bankruptcy.
Milacron, which supplies industrial fluids and makes machinery
for injection molding, had blamed repurcussions from the struggling
U.S. auto industry - one if its big buyers - and the run up in oil
and resin prices for its bankruptcy filing in March.
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com