Judge Approves $535M Talc Settlement, Clearing Berkshire's Whittaker Liability
BRKA sits 16% above its 52-week low of $698,000.
Summary
A New Jersey bankruptcy judge approved the $535 million settlement under which Berkshire affiliates and other parties are released from asbestos-injury liabilities tied to defunct talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels. Judge Michael Kaplan rejected claimant arguments that the independent directors who negotiated the terms were conflicted, calling the deal the surest path to a timely recovery. Claimant experts had valued the claims at up to $5.3 billion versus Berkshire's estimate of under $520 million, so the ruling caps a long-running tail risk at a fraction of the worst-case number. In a separate ruling, Kaplan approved Whittaker's $16.5 million environmental settlement funded by National Indemnity, clearing the last regulatory hurdle to the chapter 11 plan. Berkshire inherited the exposure when its insurance arm bought Whittaker's equity for a nominal $1 in 2007.
At the time of this announcement, BRKA was trading at $813,000.00 on NYSE in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.2T. The 52-week trading range was $698,000.00 to $824,765.16. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.