Vitro Mexico Creditors Urge Court to Put Subsidiaries into Bankruptcy
April 1, 2011

Creditors of Mexico-based glass manufacturer Vitro SAB urged a federal judge to put its U.S. subsidiaries, including Vitro America, into bankruptcy at a court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas, today.

According to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, Christopher Shore, a lawyer for a group of creditors, told the judge during closing arguments, "They have debts they can't pay … These cases need to be in Chapter 11. We need to get down to the business of figuring out a way to restructure these debts." Fellow U.S. subsidiary Binswanger Glass Co. also is one of the U.S. subsidiaries originally named in the involuntary bankruptcy case.

Bloomberg reported that Vitro lawyer Andrew Leblanc asked the judge to dismiss the involuntary petitions, saying the creditors haven't met the legal requirements to win approval.

Four Vitro creditors, unhappy with a debt settlement offer, filed a petition for involuntary bankruptcy in November 2010 against 15 of Vitro's U.S. subsidiaries, including Vitro America and Binswanger Glass. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Russell Nelms had begun the hearing yesterday at the request of creditors, and it was scheduled to conclude today.

Yesterday, Vitro's chief legal director Alejandro Sanchez told Bloomberg News that the Mexico-based glass manufacturer will seek a buyer for its U.S. operations if its Chapter 11 bankruptcy is declared valid. According to the article, the U.S. operations would face liquidation without a buyer.

At press time, glassBYTEs.com™ was awaiting a statement from Vitro America. Stay tuned to glassBYTEs.com for updates as they occur.

Need more info and analysis about the issues?
Subscribe to AGRR Magazine.