Epoxy and polyester resins producer Hexion (Columbus, Ohio / USA; www.hexion.com) seems to be up to its neck in water. Recently, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in the US Bankruptcy Court Delaware, after declaring it would be unable to submit its financial report for 2018 by the usual deadline of 1 April 2019.

The respective stock exchange release noted considerable doubts regarding the company's ability to continue business activity. However, a statement from Hexion’s headquarters said the measure affects only its US activities, and its global business segments continue to operate as normal.

According to provisional information, Hexion posted sales in 2018 of USD 3.8 bn (just under EUR 3.4 bn) compared with USD 3.6 bn in 2017. Its operating result was USD 229m in 2018 (USD 100m in 2017), with the increase partly due to the sale of the Additives Technology Group. Despite continued restructuring efforts, Hexion has been in the red for several years – primarily because of the company's USD 3.7 bn debt.

In the meantime, the bankruptcy court has released a large part of the USD 700m in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing made available by the former creditors, which means that Hexion, according to chairman, president and CEO Craig Rogerson, now has sufficient liquidity to continue its business operations and financial restructuring measures. The restructuring plan provides among other things for de-leveraging of the company's capital structure by USD 2 bn and an infusion of USD 300m in equity capital.

Hexion was created in 2010 from a merger between Hexion Specialty Chemicals and Momentive Performance Materials – see Plasteurope.com of 06.10.2010 – and initially operated under the name Momentive Specialty Chemicals. In 2015, the group – at that time under Craig Morrison – was renamed Hexion.