EnPro unit Garlock agrees to postpone claims process, plan hearing

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Jan. 5 – EnPro Industries, Inc. subsidiary Garlock Sealing Technologies LLC agreed to postpone an asbestos claims resolution process (ACRP) hearing to late February from Jan. 6 and to request similar deferrals of other events in the process, including the confirmation hearing for Garlock’s second amended plan of reorganization, according to an EnPro news release.

The agreement to postpone the ACRP hearing was made with the court-appointed legal representative of future asbestos claimants (the FCR) and the official committee representing current asbestos claimants in Garlock’s asbestos claims resolution process.

EnPro said the plan confirmation hearing was originally scheduled for June. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina approved the postponement of the hearing to a date to be set by the court.

According to the release, the FCR and the committee have advised Garlock that they have engaged in negotiations to resolve the terms of claims resolution procedures that would be an integral part of any potential consensual settlement. The FCR and committee requested this postponement to continue those negotiations and to include Garlock in their negotiations.

EnPro said Garlock agreed to this request as it continues to believe that a settlement would provide the best path to certainty and finality of the ACRP, provide for faster and more efficient completion of the case and save significant future costs.

Garlock also still believes that its pending second amended plan of reorganization, which the FCR has agreed to support, can also result in a successful reorganization without the support of the committee and despite the opposition of current asbestos claimants, the release said.

Garlock is a subsidiary of Charlotte, N.C.-based EnPro Industries, which makes sealing products, bearings, compressors and engines. Garlock filed for bankruptcy on June 5, 2010, and its Chapter 11 case number is 10-31607.

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