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March 17, 2003
Monthly Update to Customers, Employees, Suppliers, and Friends of Kaiser Aluminum:
In Today’s Bankruptcy Court Hearing
The Court approved a number of technical and procedural motions, including a further amendment to the Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) Credit Agreement. We requested this amendment to formalize the waiver I had mentioned in my January update letter. The court also approved May 15, 2003 as the general claims bar date for the Kaiser entities that filed Chapter 11 in January of this year. The next regularly scheduled hearing is April 28, 2003. In advance of that hearing, we expect to seek another extension of the exclusivity period, which is currently set to expire at April 30.
Financial Position Remains Solid
Kaiser's cash and total liquidity are strong. In addition, the company has yet to make any borrowings under the DIP. As expected, the sale of our interests in the KaiserCenter office complex closed on March 14 for a gross cash price of $65.6 million. The company’s cash and liquidity will continue to fluctuate from month to month, reflecting operating cash flow as well as one-time items such as the sale of KaiserCenter.
Claims Reconciliation Process Proceeding Smoothly
The company is in the process of analyzing and reconciling the claims that were received as of the January 31 general claims bar date. This involves comparing the claims we received to the claims we already had on file -- and analyzing new claims we just received. While there were no real surprises, this sort of work often can take several months. The process is moving along smoothly and in line with our goal of a timely emergence from Chapter 11.
Circle of Excellence
Many of you may have already seen our internal announcement earlier this month of the 2002 Circle of Excellence award winners. Kaiser employees are doing a simply tremendous job to boost the company’s operating performance. Our plants earned awards for a variety of accomplishments, including exceptional performance for quality, on-time delivery, safety, customer satisfaction, and cost improvement. Again, my congratulations to award-winners London, Trentwood, Valco, KJBC, Tennalum, Newark, Gramercy, and Bridgeview.
Thanks again to customers, employees, suppliers, and others for your ongoing support.
Jack A. Hockema
President and Chief Executive Officer
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