Minerals Technologies and its subsidiaries, Barretts Minerals (BMI) and Barretts Ventures Texas filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas to address and comprehensively resolve BMI’s liabilities associated with talc.
The debtors intend to operate their businesses normally throughout the duration of the Chapter 11 cases.
No other subsidiaries or business units of MTI are included in the filing and, as such, all are operating business as usual and will continue to do so during and after the Chapter 11 process.
“We continue to believe the lawsuits against BMI are meritless, and stand by the safety of BMI’s talc products, which have always been tested to the highest standard. BMI’s filing is an important step in efficiently resolving BMI’s liabilities to enable the company to move forward and focus on its strategic priorities,” Douglas Dietrich, chairman of the board and CEO of MTI, said. “We considered a number of options and are confident that this path will provide the best resolution to all stakeholders, including talc claimants, employees, customers and shareholders.”
BMI intends to pursue a sale of its talc assets under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. Proceeds of the sale will be used to fund the Chapter 11 case and an anticipated section 524(g) trust.
To facilitate this process, the Debtors have received a commitment of approximately $30 million in debtor-in-possession financing from JMB Capital Partners Lending, which, subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval, will provide sufficient liquidity to continue operations until the debtors are able to access proceeds of the sale.
The debtors are advised by Latham & Watkins, Jefferies and M3 Partners.
