Kodak wins court approval of amended Eastman Business Park settlement

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Aug. 19 - Eastman Kodak Co. received court approval of an amended settlement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Urban Development Corp. that could open the way for completion of the sale of the Eastman Business Park utility operations, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

As previously reported, under the settlement, Kodak will establish and fund an environmental response trust for the remediation of environment conditions at the business park and in the Genesee River. Part of the funding for the trust will come from the proceeds of the utility sale.

On Dec. 12, 2012, RED-Rochester, LLC and Kodak signed an asset purchase agreement, and the court approved the sale in January 2013, subject to approvals by the New York authorities.

The terms of the amended settlement include the following:

• Any party may terminate the agreement until Dec. 31;

• Kodak will deposit $8.5 million from the proceeds of the utility purchase to a trust for financial assurances;

• On the effective date of its plan of reorganization, Kodak will deposit $17.6 million into an escrow account as credit support for its obligation to deposit that amount into the trust upon implementation of the settlement;

• An expense-sharing mechanism will be established between Kodak and DEC in the event the costs of the EBP environmental response actions exceed $49 million; and

• Upon entry into the amended settlement agreement, New York State Urban Development will take actions to support the completion of the utility purchase.

Kodak is a Rochester, N.Y.-based imaging technology products and services provider to the photographic and graphic communications markets. The company filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 19, 2012 under Chapter 11 case number 12-10202.

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