ITEM 1.01 |
Entry into a Material
Definitive Agreement
|
This disclosure updates disclosure previously made by Honeywell
International Inc. (“Honeywell”) in Note 14 to the unaudited
Consolidated Financial Statements set forth in Honeywell’s
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended
September 30, 2022 and filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”) on October 27, 2022 (the “Form 10-Q”) and in Honeywell’s Current
Reports on Form 8-K filed
with the SEC on November 18, 2022 (and amended on such date by
a Current Report on Form 8-K/A) and November 22, 2022.
Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the
meaning given to them in the Form 10-Q.
On November 18, 2022, Honeywell entered into a definitive
agreement (the “Buyout Agreement”) with the North American
Refractories Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust (the
“Trust”), and on November 20, 2022, in exchange for the NARCO
Trust Advisory Committee (the “TAC”) and Lawrence Fitzpatrick, in
his capacity as the NARCO Asbestos Future Claimants Representative
(the “FCR”), becoming parties to the Buyout Agreement, Honeywell,
the Trust, the TAC, and the FCR entered into an Amended and
Restated Buyout Agreement (the “Amended Buyout Agreement”).
Pursuant to the terms of the Amended Buyout Agreement, Honeywell
will make a one-time, lump
sum payment in the amount of $1.325 billion (subject to
certain deductions as described in the Amended Buyout Agreement)
(the “Buyout Amount”) to the Trust in exchange for the release by
the Trust of Honeywell from all further and future obligations of
any kind related to the Trust and/or any claimants who were exposed
to asbestos-containing products manufactured, sold or distributed
by North American Refractories Company (“NARCO”) or its
predecessors, including Honeywell’s ongoing evergreen obligation to
fund (i) claims against the Trust, which comprise Honeywell’s
NARCO asbestos-related claims liability, and (ii) the Trust’s
annual operating expenses, including its legal fees (which
operating expenses, for reference, were approximately
$21 million in 2021) (such evergreen obligations referred to
in (i) and (ii), the “Honeywell Obligations”).
On December 8, 2022, the United States Bankruptcy Court for
the Western District of Pennsylvania (the “Bankruptcy Court”)
issued an order that (A) approves the Amended Buyout
Agreement, and (B) declares that the NARCO Channeling
Injunction (which bars all past, present and future individual
actions in state or federal courts based on exposure to NARCO
asbestos-containing products and requires all such claims to be
made against the Trust) will remain in full force and effect
without modification, dissolution, or termination (the “Order”).
Upon the closing of the transactions contemplated in the Amended
Buyout Agreement (the “Closing”), which shall take place as
promptly as practicable following January 1, 2023 under the
terms of the Amended Buyout Agreement, Honeywell will be released
from the Honeywell Obligations. Honeywell continues to have the
right to collect proceeds in connection with its NARCO
asbestos-related insurance policies.