Oglebay Norton Co. has emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, pursuant to a plan of reorganization approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

"All of us at Oglebay Norton are very pleased to be out of chapter 11," says Michael D. Lundin, president and CEO. "We set four goals when we began this process: restructure our debt and achieve a sustainable capital structure; create the most value for creditors; preserve the business; and emerge in an expedited manner. We believe we have accomplished all these.

"On behalf of the board of directors and management, I would like to extend my gratitude to our employees for their hard work and dedication and to our customers, vendors, lenders and advisors for their support during the process."

He says, "We are now able to devote our full attention to running the business and executing our strategic plan. The strategy is based on our core competencies of extracting, processing and providing aggregate and industrial minerals. We are confident in our ability to implement this strategy and return Oglebay Norton to its position as one of the best companies in the aggregate and industrial minerals industry."

He adds that management remains in active discussions to sell all or portions of the company's mica operations.

Under the plan of reorganization, the claims of trade creditors will be paid in full, as will the claims of other general unsecured creditors, except for holders of the company's senior subordinated notes and holders of claims related to the sale of the MLO business to Oglebay in April 2000.

In order to emerge, the company redeemed its senior secured notes, issued new preferred stock and entered into a $310 million credit facility. Holders of the company's senior subordinated notes exchanged their notes for new common stock. Holders of the MLO claims will receive significantly reduced annual amounts paid over an extended period of time. The old common stock has been cancelled. Holders of old common stock will receive warrants entitling them to purchase new common stock. The company expects the new common stock and the new preferred stock will trade on the OTC Bulletin Board.

According to the plan, Michael D. Lundin and John P. O'Brien will continue as directors of the company. All other members of the board of directors have resigned. The new board of directors consists of seven members:
• DeLyle W. Bloomquist, president and CEO of General Chemical Industrial Products Inc.
• Eugene I. Davis, chairman and CEO of Pirinate Consulting Group LLC.
• Laurence V. Goddard, president, CEO and a director of The Parkland Group Inc.
• Robert H. Kanner, chairman, president and CEO of Pubco Corp.
• Thomas O. Boucher Jr., a managing director of Ingalls & Snyder LLC.
• Michael D. Lundin, president and CEO of Oglebay Norton Co.
• John P. O'Brien, managing director of Inglewood Associates Inc.

In the first meeting of the new board of directors, Boucher was elected chairman of the board.