Five months after initiating its case, Acterna has emerged from Chapter 11 protection.
The company, based in Germantown, MD, says it is now ready to build on its global communications test leadership with a stronger balance sheet.
Acterna's Plan of Reorganization received overwhelming support from all classes of creditors and was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Sept. 25. Acterna subsidiary, da Vinci, a manufacturer of color image enhancement and automatic film and video restoration technology, has also emerged from Chapter 11 protection.
"Acterna has continued to serve its customers and deliver new innovations throughout the debt restructuring process," says John Peeler, president and chief executive officer. "We emerge today with a bright future and as a stronger company more committed than ever to the employees, customers, suppliers and other business partners that have been so instrumental to our continued success."
Under the terms of Acterna's Plan of Reorganization, Acterna's senior secured debt holders receive 100% of the company's equity through a debt-for-equity swap. Acterna emerges as a privately held company with long-term debt of approximately $190 million and quarterly cash interest expense of less than $2 million.
Holders of Acterna's convertible and subordinated notes will receive warrants having diminimus value. Unsecured creditors receive a cash distribution of approximately 10% of their claims. Current equity holders will receive no distribution under the terms of the plan.
Acterna's strategic focus is to deliver communications test solutions that help its customers deploy new communications services, reduce operating expenses and improve quality. Its customers include communications service providers Alltel, AT&T, Bell South, BT, Comcast, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telef¢nica, SBC, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. They also include equipment manufacturers Alcatel,
Cisco, Lucent, Nortel and others.
During the last five months, Acterna has introduced more than 10 new products and enhancements. The company plans to launch 12 more new products and major enhancements before the end of the year.
"Acterna's sales and support team has truly exhibited the extra-mile effort to support our network engineering and operations staff," says Bill Wyatt of Alltel, a communications service provider with 12 million customers and nearly $8 billion in annual revenue. "As Alltel continues to evolve its network technologies and service offerings, we look to Acterna as a partner in our future success."
Acterna also announced a new, five-member Board of Directors, effective today. The new board is made up of the following members:
* Todd Arden, director, Angelo, Gordon & Co., an investment management firm with approximately $10 billion under management. Arden previously served as
portfolio manager and senior analyst within AIG/SunAmerica's High Yield Group.
* Alain Couder, president and CEO of Confluent Software. Couder is the former chief operating officer of Agilent Technologies and former chairman and CEO of
Packard Bell NEC.
* James Gaffney, director for several companies -- including Hexcel Inc., Imperial Sugar Company, SCP Pool Inc. Gaffney is the former CEO of General Aquatics/KDI Corp., International Tropic-Cal, Ayers/Chairmakers, Inc., Brown Jordan Company and Washington Industries.
* Edward Horowitz, founder and chairman of EdsLink LLC, a financial and technology consulting service, and former chairman of e-Citi, a Citigroup unit created to pioneer Citigroup's e-commerce initiatives. Horowitz previously served as senior vice president, technology and operations, for Viacom Inc.
* John Peeler, president and CEO, Acterna. Peeler has more than 25 years of communications industry experience, including 23 years with Acterna, and a
depth of expertise in engineering and operations.