ACL files for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Written by Nick Blenkey
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Mark Knoy, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Commercial Lines: “Through this recapitalization process, we are creating an even stronger inland barge transportation leader.”

As expected, Jeffersonville, Ind., headquartered American Commercial Lines Inc. (ACL), one of America’s largest barge transportation companies, on Friday, voluntarily filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.

As we reported earlier, the company says it has entered into a restructuring agreement (RSA) with holders of a substantial majority of its term loan lenders on a “pre-packaged” plan to recapitalize the business, reduce the company’s debt and increase its liquidity. Under the terms of the RSA, ACL will receive $200 million in new equity capital to support liquidity and investments in the business. In addition, the RSA provides for a reduction of funded debt by approximately $1 billion.

“Because we already have the support of a substantial majority of our term loan lenders, we expect to move through this process very quickly,” said President and CEO of American Commercial Lines, Mark Knoy.

“In recent days,” Knoy continued, “we have reached out to many of our customers, vendors and other partners, and we appreciate the many expressions of support and confidence they have conveyed to us. I also want to thank our dedicated teammates for their continued hard work and focus on working safely. We look forward to continuing to provide the safest, most cost-effective and environmentally friendly barge transportation solutions.”

ACL has received a commitment for debtor-in-possession financing consisting of a $640 million asset based loan and a $50 million term loan from certain of its existing lenders. Upon Court approval, the new financing and cash generated from the company’s ongoing operations will be used to pay off ACL’s existing asset-based loan and to support the business during the court-supervised process.

Court documents and additional information about the court-supervised process can be found at a website administrated by the company’s claims agent, Prime Clerk, HERE

As part of its outreach to customers, vendors and employees, ACL has released the Youtube video that can be seen below.

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