Media Firm Technicolor Cites Pandemic in Chapter 15 Filing

French digital media company Technicolor SA filed for Chapter 15 in a U.S. bankruptcy court, saying that the Covid-19 pandemic has hurt revenue.

The move comes after the company said on Monday that it had reached agreement in principle with creditors on a restructuring plan. Chapter 15 filings allow companies to protect their U.S. assets while reorganizing in their home country.

Technicolor said in its filings that it had encountered significant challenges over the past decade, including a global shift away from traditional media consumption that hurt revenue from DVD manufacturing.

“Compounding matters, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused theatrical releases to be put on hold and production timelines to be pushed back, significantly depressing Technicolor’s revenue from production services,” it said in the filing to the U.S. bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Texas.

On June 18, the company commenced proceedings in France to restructure its obligations owed to creditors through an expedited financial safeguard plan. Read more details from the filings here

Moody’s Investors Service cut the company’s rating to Caa2 from Caa1 last month, citing the pandemic’s impact on performance and uncertainty around plans to raise 300 million euros ($338 million) of capital.

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Andrew Monahan in Hong Kong at amonahan@bloomberg.net;
Melissa Cheok in Singapore at mcheok2@bloomberg.net

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Andrew Monahan at amonahan@bloomberg.net

Ken McCallum

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