M & F Worldwide Subsidiary Expects to Resolve Asbestos
2005-12-19 08:30 (New York)
Liabilities Through Federal-Mogul Bankruptcy
NEW YORK, Dec. 19 - PRNewswire-FirstCall - M & F Worldwide Corp.
(NYSE: MFW) announced today that two of its subsidiaries have reached a
non-binding agreement in principle with Cooper Industries LLC, one of its
indemnitors, and participants in the Federal-Mogul Products, Inc. bankruptcy
on the terms of a resolution of the Abex asbestos claims indemnified by
Cooper. Under this agreement, all of these asbestos claims will be channeled
to a trust to be established upon Federal-Mogul's emergence from bankruptcy.
By participating in this plan, the Company expects to resolve all liability
for asbestos claims arising from a subsidiary's former Abex Friction Products
business. The proposed agreement is subject to court approval, approval of 75
percent of the currently affected Abex asbestos claimants, negotiation and
execution of definitive documentation and certain other approvals. The
settlement will resolve more than 38,000 pending Abex claims. Future claims
will also be resolved through the bankruptcy trust, and the Company will be
protected against future claims by a court injunction that will be effective
upon Federal-Mogul's emergence from bankruptcy.
The Company expects that the agreement in principle, when consummated,
will separate it from reliance on its indemnitors with respect to the asbestos
liability claims.
Terms of the Proposed Agreement Affecting Pneumo Abex
* A subsidiary of the Company will pay $10 million in cash into the trust
upon Federal-Mogul's emergence from bankruptcy.
* The Company will simultaneously transfer to the trust the Company's
entire interest in Pneumo Abex LLC, a non-operating, indirect
subsidiary of the Company.
* Federal-Mogul will soon petition the court overseeing its bankruptcy
for a stay of all current claims subject to the agreement. Upon
Federal-Mogul's emergence from bankruptcy, a court injunction will
permanently bar any affected asbestos claimant from pursuing a claim
against M & F Worldwide and certain related entities.
The Company, Federal-Mogul and Cooper have agreed to begin drafting
promptly the binding definitive documentation that will implement this
non-binding agreement in principle. Approval of the agreement by the court
overseeing the Federal-Mogul bankruptcy will be requested in the next few
weeks.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties. Actual events may differ materially from those anticipated
in this statement. The following factors, among others and in addition to
those described in the Company's reports filed with the SEC (including,
without limitation, those described under "Forward Looking Statements" in the
Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30,
2005), could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from
those expressed in these forward-looking statements: (a) Federal-Mogul's
inability to obtain a stay of the friction products asbestos litigation, a
permanent bankruptcy court injunction against such litigation or court
approval for its proposed plan of reorganization; (b) legislative developments
that may interfere with the consummation of the agreement in principle; and
(c) the inability of the parties to the non-binding agreement in principle to
agree on definitive documentation implementing the agreement. The Company
assumes no responsibility to update the forward-looking statements contained
in this release.
SOURCE M & F Worldwide Corp.
CONTACT:
Christine Taylor for M & F Worldwide Corp., 212-572-5988
-0- Dec/19/2005 13:30 GMT
