MEMPHIS, TN-- Verso Corporation is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company made the announcement in a release Tuesday. It said the paper maker’s board of directors authorized the filing to facilitate debt restructuring necessary to “strengthen the company’s balance sheet and to position Verso for long-term success.”
Verso said it expects the announcement will have virtually no impact on the day-to-day operation of the company.
President and CEO David J. Paterson said, “We have worked together with a broad spectrum of financial creditors to develop a restructuring plan to eliminate $2.4 billion of our outstanding debt and to exit the Chapter 11 process in a short timeframe.”
To explain the filing Paterson noted that “since Verso acquired NewPage Holdings Inc. in January 2015, a confluence of external factors, including an accelerated and unprecedented decline in demand for our products, a significant increase in foreign imports resulting from a strong U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies, and Verso’s impending financial obligations made it apparent that action was needed.”
