Can CEO Rogerson reestablish a winning attitude?
IT’S A long road out of bankruptcy – creditors have to hash out claims, assets must be valued and exit financing secured. But US specialty chemical firm Chemtura is aiming to emerge from bankruptcy quickly – by March 2010 – just one year after filing. “We are optimistic we’re on track to exit bankruptcy by March 2010 – it is an aggressive timeline but all parties are working towards this goal,” said CEO Craig Rogerson in an interview with ICIS. “It is an expensive proposition to be in bankruptcy,” he added, citing legal fees as well as an interest rate on its $400m (€280m) debtor-in-possession (DIP) credit facility amounting to around 18%. Built on a series of acquisitions of often disparate specialty chemical businesses, Chemtura has been through the ringer. Even during the up cycle, the company embarked on restructuring after restructuring program to cut costs and find synergies in businesses ranging from crop protection to petroleum additives, plastic additives, urethanes, pool and
