PPG Industries of Pittsburgh, PA, and DuPont of Wilmington, DE, are among the largest unsecured creditors owed money by Safelite Glass Corporation of Columbus, OH. The nation’s largest retailer of auto glass repair and replacement services filed for bankruptcy protection Friday while it reorganizes under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Code. The company estimated that it has more than 1,000 unsecured creditors and listed assets of $559.2 million and liabilities of $591.4 million. Chief among the unsecured creditors named are:

1. State Street Bank and Trust, Boston, MA $155,000,000.00

2. PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, PA-- $3,014,875.75

3. Dupont, headquartered in Wilmington, DE-- $1,943,992.52

4. Glass Depot/Harmon Viracon
   (All owned by Apogee Enterprises, Minneapolis, MN)-- $1,933,933.10

5. Sika Corporation, Kansas City, MO-- $1,824,691.38

6. Visteon Glass, headquartered in Michigan-- $1,685,494.03

7. AFG Industries, Kingsport, TN-- $1,042,093.53

8. Mygrant Glass, San Francisco, CA-- $847,423.41

9. Creative Extruded Products, Tripp City, OH-- $626,685.31

10. Pilkington LOF, Toledo, OH-- $397,102.27

11. PSC Trading TN, Los Angeles, CA-- $333,071.40

12. Convoy Integrated, Bedford Park, IL-- $324,725.57

13. Sommer and Maca, Chicago, IL-- $253,603.90

14. Binswanger Glass, Memphis, TN-- $232,495.33

15. Autover, Philadelphia, PA-- $219,788.76

16. Town of Enfield, NC-- $216,063.78

17. Triumph Auto, Kingston-- $212,392.42

18. Auto Glass Specialists, Madison, WI-- $203,214.47

19. Cottondale Wood Products, Tuscaloosa, AL-- $138,075.38

20. Waste Management, Atlanta, GA-- $123,512.71

While most names on the list are familiar suppliers of auto glass products and services, a few are not. Safelite owns a plant in Enfield, NC, and listed the town as a large creditor. Cottondale Wood Products is an Alabama supplier of wood pallets.

Safelite filed voluntarily under chapter 11 in an effort to reorganize and restructure its debts. The company says it has funds available for all unsecured creditors. “No one is going to be impaired,” CEO John Barlow told AGRR magazine. “We have 100 percent of the money to pay everyone off. We want to knock down our rent on dark stores and restructure our debt, that’s all,” he said. Dark stores are stores where Safelite has a lease but is no longer operating a shop. Barlow said Safelite plans to pay its subcontractors for work even before it bills insurance companies or fleet companies for that work, and that business should continue as usual.

But others disagree. In an address before the Virginia Glass Association yesterday at its biennial convention, attorney Chuck Lloyd said that nothing is certain until a plan is approved by the courts. Lloyd said that shops doing work for Safelite would be well-advised to consult their attorneys and accountants and to remember the distinction between work where the insured or insurance company is the customer and work done through the SGC network. The SGC network is part of the bankruptcy and companies need to assess how much risk they wish to take.

Insurance companies, too, are undergoing an assessment of how best to continue to work with Safelite during the reorganization. Allstate Insurance met to discuss the matter on Friday and was expected to comment this week. AGRR has learned that at least one Midwestern insurance company has told its agents privately that they are to refer no work to Safelite until it emerges from Chapter 11.

Barlow has said he expects to Safelite to emerge from bankruptcy by September.

All these will be covered in depth in the next issue of AGRR magazine and updates will be available here throughout this weekend. For a free subscription to AGRR or USGlass magazine, please click here.

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Related Link: US Bankruptcy Court Documents