NutraCea Makes Final Payments Under Plan of Reorganization
NutraCea used the Chapter 11 process exactly as it was intended. Under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, we restructured our business, repaid all creditors in full and protected the interests of the shareholders who invested in NutraCea prior to the bankruptcy filing.
Jan 23 2012 --- NutraCea, a global leader in the production and marketing of value added products derived from rice bran, announced final payment of all amounts due to creditors under the terms of its Plan of Reorganization.
The Company confirmed that it has met all of its obligations under the terms of the Amended Plan of Reorganization approved by the US Bankruptcy Court.
W. John Short, Chief Executive Officer of NutraCea, stated, "We are pleased to have made the final payments due to all creditors under the Amended Plan of Reorganization. We are proud to have paid in full all of the lenders, suppliers and vendors who supported NutraCea during the entire reorganization process that began with our Chapter 11 filing in November 2009 and culminated in our final payments to creditors at the beginning of this week. No creditor that participated in the court supervised restructuring process lost money doing business with NutraCea.
"NutraCea used the Chapter 11 process exactly as it was intended. Under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, we restructured our business, repaid all creditors in full and protected the interests of the shareholders who invested in NutraCea prior to the bankruptcy filing. I want to offer special thanks to Cary Forrester, bankruptcy counsel who represented NutraCea throughout the proceedings, for his guidance and wise counsel in guiding us through this complex process."
The Company's bankruptcy counsel, S. Cary Forrester, of Forrester & Worth, in Phoenix, Arizona, commented: "This is an extraordinary outcome. In the vast majority of Chapter 11 filings, the pre-petition owners lose most or all of their ownership interests and unsecured creditors receive pennies on the dollar. In fact, according to one study of bankruptcy outcomes, less than 10% of Chapter 11 debtors confirm and complete a plan of reorganization. In this case, NutraCea not only exited Chapter 11 intact and paid all of its debts in full, but it did so in a way that allowed its shareholders to retain 100% of their ownership interests in the Company."
