American Commercial Lines Inc. announced today that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, has approved the company's pre-packaged plan to recapitalize the business. ACL expects to complete its recapitalization and emerge from Chapter 11 in the coming weeks. ACL filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 7.
Upon emerging from bankruptcy, the Jeffersonville, Ind.-based barge operator will receive $200 million in new capital to support liquidity and investments in the business and will reduce its funded debt by approximately $1 billion.
"We were able to reach this important milestone on an accelerated basis thanks to the continued support of our financial stakeholders, as well as our customers and business partners," Mark Knoy, president and CEO of American Commercial Lines, said in a statement. "Through this recapitalization process, we are creating an even stronger inland barge transportation leader, with greater financial flexibility and the ability to focus more of our resources on competing in the marketplace and investing in the business to support future growth. We have continued serving our customers and providing competitive and reliable barge transportation services, 24-7, without interruption. From our barges to our towboats and our terminals, our operations are performing well and our team is more focused than ever making sure our customers remain our top priority."
Knoy continued: "We appreciate the positive feedback we received from our customers and business partners since we started this process and thank them for their continued support. I also want to thank our teammates for their continued hard work and focus on safely serving our customers. We look forward to completing this process shortly and remain focused on providing our customers the safest, most cost-effective and environmentally friendly barge transportation solutions they expect from us."
