Kenneth Fletcher
RW Monitor
7/11/2014
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware this week approved USEC’s disclosure statement for its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, paving the way for a vote by USEC’s creditors for final approval of the plan. Votes are due by August 11, and a court hearing to confirm approval is scheduled for Sept. 5. “We have made steady progress in recent months to restructure USEC and we anticipate emerging from Chapter 11 protection with an improved balance sheet,” USEC President and CEO John Welch said in a statement this week.
Given a bleak near-term commercial outlook for the uranium enrichment market and $530 million in debt due to creditors this October, earlier this year USEC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. USEC’s plan calls for a reorganization of $530 million of its debt. The reorganization would replace the current notes and all of the company’s stock with $240.4 million in debt due in five years and new common stock. Investors Toshiba and B&W are supporting the plan and will each receive about $20.2 million in debt, while the noteholders will receive $200 million in debt and 79 percent of USEC’s stock. The company is currently maintaining the American Centrifuge technology under a new subcontract to Oak Ridge, with hopes that the commercial market will pick up in the coming years.
Welch said this week, “We are taking many steps in advance of emerging as a restructured company. We are working closely with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to continue the demonstration of the American Centrifuge technology. Our Kentucky employees have done an outstanding job of preparing the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant for de-lease and return to the U.S. Department of Energy in October. And we continue our record of delivering low enriched uranium to our nuclear utility customers, on time and within specifications.”
