NEW YORK -- A slimmed-down Kodak announced today it has emerged from bankruptcy protection and will specialize in technology focused on imaging for businesses.
During its 20-month bankruptcy reorganization, Kodak (IW 500/226) divested many of its most iconic businesses, including its retail film products, its photography paper products and some 105,000 kiosks worldwide.
The assets went to the UK Kodak Pension Plan, the company's largest creditor.
"We have emerged as a technology company serving imaging for business markets -- including packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services," Kodak CEO Antonio Perez said. "We are setting a trajectory for profitable growth. We have the right technology at the right time as printing markets increasingly transition to digital."
A New York bankruptcy court approved Kodak's reorganization plan Aug. 20, but the company said at the time it still had some final steps before exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Kodak said today it has completed the spinoff of assets to the UK Kodak Pension Plan, closed an agreement for $695 million in financing, and obtained $406 million in new equity investments from unsecured creditors.
Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors in January 2012, after 131 years in business, as the company fell behind rivals in digital photography.
The Rochester, N.Y.-based company, started in 1892, led the way in popularizing the cameras, film, slide projectors and home videos that preserved the memories of generations of Americans and others around the world.
Kodak was among the early developers of digital imaging but lost ground to rivals as it failed to adapt its business lines.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013
