Kodak’s next chapter is 11 |

Following weeks of media speculation, Eastman Kodak Co. today filed voluntary petitions for chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Kodak expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based company said, “The business reorganization is intended to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the company to focus on its most valuable business lines.”

Kodak has obtained a fully-committed, $950 million debtor-in-possession credit facility — subject to court approval and other conditions — with an 18-month maturity from Citigroup to enhance liquidity and working capital

Kodak has launched a Kodak Transforms website to provide information to customers about the proceedings.

Below is analysis from the Wall Street Journal:

Kodak will say is will continue the flow of goods and services to its customers in the ordinary course, and expects to pay employee wages and benefits and continue customer programs. Subsidiaries outside of the U.S. are not subject to proceedings and will honor all obligations to suppliers, whenever incurred. Kodak and its U.S. subsidiaries will honor all post-petition obligations to suppliers in the ordinary course.

Antonio Perez, Kodak CEO and chairman

“Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation,” says Antonio M. Perez, chairman and CEO. “At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003. Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital-imaging and materials science company.

“After considering the advantages of chapter 11 at this time, the Board of Directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak. Our goal is to maximize value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers.

“Chapter 11 gives us the best opportunities to maximize the value in two critical parts of our technology portfolio: our digital capture patents, which are essential for a wide range of mobile and other consumer electronic devices that capture digital images and have generated over $3 billion of licensing revenues since 2003; and our breakthrough printing and deposition technologies, which give Kodak a competitive advantage in our growing digital businesses.”