East West Copolymer bankruptcy hearing scheduled for April 12

BATON ROUGE, La.—April 12 is the date of an expedited hearing on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of East West Copolymer L.L.C. before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

East West Copolymer, a manufacturer of styrene-butadiene rubber and nitrile-butadiene rubber, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the Middle District of Louisiana court April 7.

The April 12 hearing before Judge Douglas Dodd will concern several motions, including the maintenance of existing bank accounts, authorization for employment of restructuring officers and attorneys, extension of time to file schedules and statements, and authority to approve compensation and payment to insiders.

East West Copolymer, which began life as the Copolymer Corp. in 1943, closed its doors March 31 after operating at the same Baton Rouge plant for 74 years. Approximately 110 employees were laid off, according to Mike Matthews, business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 216, which organized the East West facility.

A maintenance crew will be on site for the next several weeks, performing the necessary shutdown operations such as emptying tanks and pipes, Matthews said.

The company became DSM Copolymer in 1989 and Lion Copolymer in 2005.

In late 2013, Lion Copolymer announced plans to temporarily close the SBR and NBR facility in Baton Rouge.

But in early 2014, a group led by Greg Nelson, CEO of Lion Copolymer for six years starting in 2008, reached an agreement to buy the operation and re-opened it as East West Copolymer. The group also included Horizons Up Consulting and Alto Cheung of China, along with seven other former managers at the Baton Rouge plant.