NEWS OF THE WEEK CHAPTER
11
SOLUTIA SOLUTION An agreement could give Monsanto control of its former chemical business ADDITIONAL FUNDING Retiree benefits could be funded and contaminated sites, such as this one in Anniston, Ala., could be cleaned up. 3
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M
ONSANTO HAS REACHED
an agreement in principle w i t h Solutia and unse cured creditors t h a t could soon bring Solutia out of bankruptcy r e o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d give M o n s a n t o m o r e t h a n 5 0 % of t h e shares of the chemical business es it spun out in 1997 Solutia, M o n santo, and unse cured creditors expect to submit a plan to the bank ruptcy court this s u m m e r t h a t en visions a full pay m e n t to Solutia's secured debtors.
W H I T E
Unsecured debtors would receive all the stock in the reorganized firm t h a t M o n s a n t o would n o t own. Existing shareholders would get nothing. A Solutia spokesman says the firm could be out ofbankruptcy by year-end. Jeffry N . Q u i n n , Solutia's CEO, called the agreement "a ma jor milestone" t h a t would "pro vide significant relief from t h e historic liabilities that were a driv ing factor in our C h a p t e r 11 fil ing" in D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 3 . Monsanto, which saddled So lutia w i t h a legacy of environ mental litigation and liabilities along with pension obligations to retirees nearly eight years ago, will
P A P E R
SCIENCE AND SECURITY
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Eminent panel calls for continued openness on basic research WHITE PAPER CONSIDER-
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ing the benefits of an open scientific enterprise versus the risks to national security in a post-9/11 environment con cludes, on balance, that the U.S. would be better served if the gov e r n m e n t avoids needless incur sions on openness. T h e paper—produced by a dis tinguished panel of scientists and s e c u r i t y e x p e r t s sitting as t h e Commission on Scientific C o m munication & National Securi ty— argues t h a t a R e a g a n - e r a p o l i c y d i r e c t i v e o n scientific openness should be continued. T h a t directive s t a t e s , "To t h e m a x i m u m e x t e n t possible, t h e
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C&EN/JUNE13,
2005
products of fundamental research [should] remain unrestricted." T h e commission was created two years ago by the Center for Strategic & International Studies. It is chaired by Harold Brown, a former Defense secretary and N o bel Laureate David Baltimore, president of Caltech. Brown be lieves departing from the direc tive's principles "is likely to dam age U.S. prosperity and security in the long run more than it protects t h e m in the short run." O f concern to the commission is h o w t h e C o m m e r c e D e p a r t m e n t will c o n t r o l "deemed ex p o r t s . " T h a t is, C o m m e r c e is considering w h e t h e r to require
benefit, too. Monsanto Chief Fi nancial Officer Terrell K. Crews says the agreement will "help cre ate a viable Solutia a n d allow M o n s a n t o to continue to focus o n our agricultural businesses." Subject to bankruptcy court approval, M o n s a n t o would re ceive at least 2 9 . 8 % of Solutia's c o m m o n stock when it emerges from bankruptcy in exchange for funds s p e n t o r c o m m i t t e d b y Monsanto to help bring Solutia out of bankruptcy But M o n s a n t o could end up owning another 22.7% of Solutia in e x c h a n g e for an a d d i t i o n a l $250 million investment in a re organized Solutia. If unsecured creditors agree to provide all or p a r t of t h e a d d i t i o n a l invest ment—which would fund retiree benefits and clean u p contami nated sites in Anniston, Ala., and Sauget, 111.—Monsanto's stock ownership would be reduced pro portionately—MARC REISCH
licenses for access to equipment that normally would be controlled if exported outside the U.S. but is being used in U.S. labs to conduct basic research. If Commerce reg ulates such equipment as deemed exports, researchers would be re quired to get an export license if the equipment were to be used by foreign nationals. Commerce has issued a request for public c o m m e n t o n a p r o p o s e d policy, and t h e c o m m i s sion's report will be submitted in response to that request. "The sci entific community may be seri ously affected by C o m m e r c e ' s proposed regulation," Baltimore says. "I certainly hope this report will be a blueprint for altering the proposed regulations." Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Sci entists' Project on Government Secrecy, expects t h a t t h e com mission's "well articulated" paper "is likely to find a receptive audi ence. I detect a sensitivity at Com merce to the concerns of univer sity researchers. "—LOI S EMBER WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
