NewPage Corp. Creditors' Committee Appointed, First Monthly Operating Report Filed

On Thursday, NewPage Corporation filed its first monthly operating report with the Delaware bankruptcy court and, separately, the United States Trustee filed a notice identifying the members of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors appointed in the chapter 11 bankruptcy cases.  NewPage and its affiliates are the largest coated paper manufacturers in North America based upon production capacity and trace their roots to the 1888 founding of the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company (later known as Westvaco).  The companies, headquartered in Ohio, employ approximately 6,000 people with 70% of its employees being members of labor unions.  NewPage generated gross revenues of almost $900 million and adjusted EBITDA of $32 million in the quarter ending June 30, 2011.

Read more after the jump.



The creditors that have been appointed to the Creditors' Committee by the U.S. Trustee are:

• HSBC Bank USA, National Association
• Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas
• US Bank National Assocation
• Alden Global Distressed Opportunities Master Fund, L.P. c/o Alden Global Capital
• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
• United Steelworkers
• Eugene Davis, as Litigation Trustee for the Quebecor World Litigation Trust
• OMNOVA Solutions Inc.
• National Starch LLC

NewPage's first monthly operating report provides 12-month cash flow projections, certificates of the companies' insurance policies, and a summary of the retainers that the companies have paid to their professional advisors.  According to the cash flow projections included in the monthly operating report, NewPage projects positive cash flows during the first three calendar months of its chapter 11 cases (Sept., Oct., and Nov.) and an unrestricted cash balance of approximately $98.4 million at the end of November.  More than half of that unrestricted cash balance will be used, however, to fund disbursements in excess of receipts during the months of December and January 2012.  At that point, cash flows are expected to be positive for the next four calendar months, with unrestricted cash growing to nearly $105 million by the end of May 2012.  The companies' cash balance is anticipated to fall dramatically (by nearly $82 million) during June 2012, with nearly $103 million in interest and fees anticipated to be paid during that month.  The companies' unrestricted cash is expected to fall further in July, ending the month with only $15 million, before cash flows turn positive again next August.

To download copies of these pleadings or other court documents from the NewPage bankruptcy cases, please visit: http://www.chapter11cases.com/NewPage-Corporation_c_28483.html