Talk:W. R. Grace and Company/Archives/2014

Assistance with Updating Company Information

Hello,

I am the new Online Media Manager for W.R. Grace & Co. One of my first assignments here is to address some edits to our Wikipedia entry. These edits provide clarification on certain details, correct minor errors and provide additional information on the company's current operations. There are a number of changes that I am requesting and some are admittedly substantial. If there is any controversy regarding or questions around these edits, I would be happy to provide any additional information required. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Unless otherwise noted, I would reference the most recent SEC 10-K filing on February 27, 2013 for the bulk of these requested updates. SEC 10-K filing, 2/27/2013, http://secfilings.nyse.com/filing.php?doc=1&attach=ON&ipage=8756273&rid=23#sA96083094C0A128E8382861C31C3794C

Thank you,
Tom Rowe, Tomrowe109 (talk) 21:26, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
Manager, Online Media
W.R. Grace & Co.

Please change all instances of W.R. Grace and Company to W.R. Grace & Co. This reflects the legal name of the company.

Please change "W. R. Grace and Company is a Columbia, Maryland, United States based chemical conglomerate" to read, "W. R. Grace and Co. is a Columbia, Maryland, United States-based global specialty chemical and materials company." This addresses a grammatical error in with "United States-based" and indicates that we are no longer defined as a conglomerate as we are focused in two specific areas, specialty chemicals and materials.

Please change the second paragraph about the company's divisions to the following:

“The company has three business segments, Grace Catalysts Technologies (GCT), Grace Materials Technologies (GMT), and Grace Construction Products (GCP). GCT makes chemical catalysts and refining catalysts, that enable other companies to make products from refined crude oil, and catalysts and additives for the conversion of renewable feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. GMT makes a variety of products, many of which are silica based, for coatings, chromatography, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, food and beverage manufacturing, packaging and sealants, the manufacture of insulated glass, tires, personal care and other products. Its GCP segment makes concrete admixtures and fibers, products for architectural concrete, liquid pigments for colored concrete, cement processing additives, concrete masonry products, air and vapor barriers, roofing underlayments, self-adhered window, door and deck flashings, structural waterproofing systems and fire protection products. The customers include chemicals companies, construction firms, and oil refiners.[1]"

Grace has reorganized its businesses into three distinct segments.

Please change "Grace's" to "Grace" to fix grammatical error.

Please change "6,400" employees to "6,500."

Please add "customers in 150 countries," after "in nearly 40 countries."

Please change annual sales figures from "$2.5 billion" to "3.2 billion."

Please change section title “Airline” to “Other Milestones” to capture additional history information that does not warrant added sections.

Please add the following paragraph after the 4th paragraph regarding Miller Brewing under “Other Milestones:”

“In 1964, the company introduced XZ-15, the first fluid cracking catalyst to contain zeolite. A significant advance over existing catalysts, XZ-15 allows petroleum refiners to increase throughput, conversion and gasoline yield.”

Please change the first sentence of the second paragraph under “Headquarters” to read “In 1991, the company relocated its headquarters from New York City to Boca Raton, Florida.” This clarifies that fact that the headquarters was initially in New York City prior to moving to Boca Raton before ultimately to Columbia, MD.

Please delete “Subsidiaries and products section.” These are no longer relevant to our current business operations and specifics about business segments and various products were detailed above.

Please change section header “Contamination incidents” to “Contamination incidents and Chapter 11.” As a result of the asbestos-related claims, the company and its subsidiaries voluntarily filed for Chapter 11. This information will update and expand on current content.

Please add “and claims” after “lawsuits” in both sentences in the paragraph under the Asbestos subsection.

Please add a subsection under “Contamination incidents and Chapter 11” called “Chapter 11” with the following information that adds to and updates current information starting with “After asbestos injuries…”

Chapter 11

“In 2000, asbestos-related claims against the company increased 81 percent, with a higher rate of increase during the first three months of 2001. In response, on April 2, 2001, Grace and 61 of its United States subsidiaries and affiliates, including its primary U.S. operating subsidiary, W. R. Grace & Co.–Conn., filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Grace’s Board of Directors determined that a federal court-supervised reorganization offered the best forum available to achieve a fair resolution of its asbestos-related claims.

Asbestos claimants alleged that Grace had transferred 4 to 5 billion dollars to daughter companies that it had recently purchased, shortly before declaring bankruptcy. Attorneys representing claimants alleged that this amounted to a fraudulent transfer of money in order to protect Grace from civil suits related to asbestos. The bankruptcy court ordered the companies to return nearly $1 billion to Grace, which remained part of the assets to consider in the bankruptcy hearings.

By April 7, 2008, an agreement-in-principle was reached with the Official Committee of Asbestos Personal Injury Claimants, the Future Claimants Representative and the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders on a plan to resolve asbestos personal injury claims.

On September 19, 2008, Grace filed a joint plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The amended Joint Plan establishes two asbestos trusts to compensate personal injury claimants and property owners. Funds for the trusts will come from a variety of sources including cash, warrants to purchase Grace common stock, deferred payment obligations, insurance proceeds and payments from successor companies. The trusts’ assets and operations are designed to cover all current and future asbestos claims.

Early in 2011, the U.S. bankruptcy court overruled all objections to the Joint Plan of Reorganization. Five creditors appealed that ruling, and those appeals have been heard by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The company reached a warrant agreement with the Asbestos Trust, and, with the court’s approval, announced a $365 million non-cash charge to adjust its asbestos liability.

For 12 years under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, Grace continued to acquire companies and grow its business.

The company has publicly stated that it expects to emerge from bankruptcy in early 2014.”

Ref: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2001/04/02/daily1.html

Please change “are” to “were” in the second to last sentence of the first paragraph under the “Asbestos court case” subsection. The sentence should read, “. The defendants were also accused of obstructing the government’s cleanup efforts and wire fraud.” This corrects a grammatical error.

for each of the non-trivial content suggestions you provide above (i.e. anything that is not a grammatical change), please provide page numbers to the SEC filing.