W.R. Grace failed in July in bid attempt for certain undisclosed assets, company tells bankruptcy judge, seeks judge's permission to destroy documents relating to auction

Alison Gallant

LOS ANGELES , August 24, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – Specialty chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co., currently in bankruptcy, told the judge overseeing its bankruptcy case Aug. 22 that the company failed in its bid to acquire certain undisclosed assets last month, Bloomberg reported Aug. 23.

The Columbia, Maryland-based company was in court on Aug. 22 to ask Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to allow the company to destroy all documents involved in the bid. The company is required by law to seek approval for such transactions because it is in bankruptcy, Bloomberg noted.

The unnamed seller had asked debtors to destroy all evaluation material now that the auction period has ended, according to Grace’s filing.

At present, the specialty chemical maker is waiting for approval from higher-level courts to exit bankruptcy. In January, Fitzgerald signed off on Grace’s reorganization plan.

Grace’s bankruptcy was one among several filed in 2000 and 2001 by companies seeking to reduce their financial exposure to hundreds of thousands of lawsuits filed where plaintiffs claimed damages from asbestos, Bloomberg noted.

Once every appeal is dealt with and Grace gets final approval to exit bankruptcy, the company plans to pay creditors in full and establish a trust to pay victims of asbestos poisoning, Bloomberg reported.

The primary source of this article is Bloomberg, New York, New York, Aug. 23, 2011.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.