ABB/Combustion Engineers plan

Swedish-Swiss engineering group ABB has put forward a US$1.2bn settlement plan for its US subsidiary Combustion Engineers as part of Chapter 11 reorganisation. A charge of up to US$300mn will be made against ABB’s fourth quarter 2002, added to the end of 2001 asbestos provisions of US$940mn. The settlement, operative through a Trust handling claims, will be made up of US$350mn cash, US$50mn stock and the assets of CE valued at around US$800mn. Payments will be made in instalments between 2004 and 2009. The plan, agreed with the lawyers of 111,000 claimants, still requires acceptance by 75% of claimants and approval by the bankruptcy court.