Metal Management Receives Court Approval to Emerge from Chapter 11

Metal Management received court approval for its plan of reorganization by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of this month. According to a release by Metal Management, around 90 percent of the general unsecured creditors voters supported the plan, as well as a large majority of the creditor constituencies.

In accordance with the plan of reorganization, about $215 million of indebtedness will be converted into common stock of the reorganized company, and about $4 million of other prepetition debt will be paid out at a discount over time. The debt service obligation of the company, as a result of the restructuring, will be reduced by about $18 million a year. Existing Metal Management shareholders will receive on a prorata basis 100,000 shares of the new common stock.

Albert A. Cozzi remarked, ``I am extremely pleased that Metal Management is emerging from Chapter 11 before the end of this month. The support for the plan of reorganization from our senior lenders, bondholders and unsecured creditors has been overwhelming. The deleveraging of our capital structure that will result from the implementation of the plan will allow Metal Management to continue to build on the base of business that we were able to maintain intact during the bankruptcy.''

Upon effectiveness of the plan, Metal Management will have a new board of directors comprised of Albert Cozzi, the company's chairman and CEO, John DiLaqua, Harold Rouster, Kevin McGuiness and Daniel Dienst.