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'Affordable' USG asbestos plan
Chicago Sun-Times - Business
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Business
'Affordable' USG asbestos plan January 31, 2006BY SANDRA GUY Business Reporter
USG Corp.
announced a unique asbestos-liability settlement Monday that could let the Chicago-based wallboard manufacturer emerge from bankruptcy by fall, repay its debtors in full, and resolve all current and future personal-injury asbestos claims against it.
The plan includes $1.8 billion in backing for the plan from value-fund guru Warren Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, which owns 15 percent of USG's stock.
"This is a very important day in our 103-year history," said USG CEO William C.
Foote, calling the proposal a "watershed," "a win for all constituencies" and "fair, fast, final and affordable."
USG and its three major operating subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection June 25, 2001, to put an end to growing costs of fighting lawsuits filed by people who claimed to have be...
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