Victims of WR Grace Libby Mining http www grace com Media NewsItem aspx ID 1126367 Grace Announces Settlement of Asbestos Personal Injury Claims COLUMBIA Md BUSINESS WIRE April 7 2008 W R Grace Co NYSE GRA today announced an agreement in principle that would settle all present and future asbestos related personal injury claims The agreement reached with the Official Committee of Asbestos Personal Injury Claimants the Future Claimants Representative and the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders requires the following assets to be paid into a trust to be established under Section 524 g of the United States Bankruptcy Code Cash in the amount of 250 million Warrants to acquire 10 million shares of Grace common stock at an exercise price of 17 00 per share expiring one year from the effective date of a plan of reorganization Rights to proceeds under Grace s asbestos related insurance coverage The value of cash and stock under the litigation settlement agreements with Sealed Air Corporation and Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc and Deferred payments at 110 million per year for five years beginning in 2019 and 100 million per year for ten years beginning in 2024 the deferred payments would be obligations of Grace backed by 50 1 of Grace s common stock to meet the requirements of Section 524 g The agreement in principle contemplates the filing of a plan of reorganization and related documents with the Bankruptcy Court The plan will be subject to approval of its co proponents exit financing and Bankruptcy Court and District Court approvals This agreement in principle is a very important step in emerging from Chapter 11 said Fred Festa Grace s Chairman President and Chief Executive Officer In this challenging global marketplace we need to be able to focus all of our efforts on increasing shareowner value and continued improvement in our core businesses The agreement and the Plan of Reorganization that will be based on it will be good for our shareholders customers creditors and our employees A lot of work remains to be done before we can confirm a Plan of Reorganization but I am optimistic we will be successful in reaching that goal by the end of this year or early in 2009 Also I want to point out that the Plan of Reorganization will preserve all employee benefits During the seven years we have been in Chapter 11 our people have nearly doubled Grace s sales and dramatically improved the core businesses We look forward to final approval of our Plan of Reorganization when we can once again operate without the constraints of Chapter 11 said Festa Grace is a leading global supplier of catalysts and other products to petroleum refiners catalysts for the manufacture of plastics silica based engineered and specialty materials for a wide range of industrial applications sealants and coatings for food and beverage packaging and specialty chemicals additives and building materials for commercial and residential construction With annual sales of more than 3 1 billion Grace has about 6 500 employees and operations in over 40 countries For more information visit Grace s web site at www grace com This announcement contains forward looking statements that is information related to future not past events Such information generally includes the words believes plans intends targets will expects anticipates continues or similar expressions For these statements Grace claims the protection of the safe harbor for forwardlooking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 Grace is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements or that could cause other forward looking information to prove incorrect Factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those contained in the forward looking statements include Grace s bankruptcy plans of reorganization proposed by Grace and others Grace s legal proceedings especially the Montana criminal proceeding and environmental proceedings the cost and availability of raw materials and energy Grace s unfunded pension liabilities costs of environmental compliance risks related to foreign operations especially security regulation and currency risks and those factors set forth in Grace s most recent Annual Report on Form 10 K quarterly report on Form 10 Q and current reports on Form 8 K which have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are readily available on the Internet at www sec gov Reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements which speak only as of the date thereof Grace undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to the forward looking statements contained in this announcement or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this announcement CONTACT Media Relations William Corcoran 1 410 531 4203 william corcoran grace com or Investor Relations Bridget Sarikas 1 410 531 4194 bridget sarikas grace com SOURCE W R Grace Co W R Grace to pay record Superfund fine But 250 million may fall well short of Libby Mont cleanup cost By ANDREW SCHNEIDER P I SENIOR CORRESPONDENT Wednesday March 12 2008 Last updated 8 22 a m PT The government says it finally has persuaded W R Grace Co to pick up some of the cleanup bill for what the Environmental Protection Agency has called the worst environmental disaster in U S history The Justice Department on Tuesday announced that Grace had agreed to pay a record setting 250 million to reimburse the federal government for the costs of the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby Mont Officials at Justice and EPA said the payout will be the largest in the history of the Superfund program People from both agencies involved with Libby and Grace told the Seattle P I that the money may not come close to paying to remove the lethal fibers from the homes businesses ballfields and schoolyards of the community Earlier estimates neared 500 million This health experts say is because much is still unknown about the toxicity of the tremolite asbestos contaminating the vermiculite ore beyond the fact that it is far more dangerous than other asbestos material The EPA has been on the scene in the tiny northwestern Montana community since November 1999 arriving three days after the P I first reported that hundreds
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