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Reorganization Proceedings of Certain Subsidiaries | 9 Months Ended
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Feb. 28, 2013
Reorganization Proceedings of Certain Subsidiaries | NOTE 8 — REORGANIZATION PROCEEDINGS OF CERTAIN SUBSIDIARIES General — Bondex and SPHC are defendants in various asbestos-related bodily injury lawsuits filed in various state courts. These cases generally seek unspecified damages for asbestos-related diseases based on alleged exposures to asbestos-containing products. On May 31, 2010, Bondex and its parent, SPHC, filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. SPHC is also the parent company for various operating companies that are not part of the reorganization filing, including Chemical Specialties Manufacturing Corp.; Day-Glo Color Corp.; Dryvit Holdings, Inc.; Guardian Protection Products Inc.; Kop-Coat Inc.; TCI, Inc. and RPM Wood Finishes Group, Inc. SPHC and Bondex (the “filing entities”) took this action to permanently and comprehensively resolve all pending and future asbestos-related liability claims associated with Bondex and SPHC-related products. As a result of the filing, all Bondex and SPHC asbestos personal injury lawsuits have been stayed due to the imposition of an automatic stay applicable in bankruptcy cases, with the exception of the cases referenced in Note 3 with respect to which the stay was lifted. In addition, at the request of SPHC and Bondex, the bankruptcy court has entered orders staying all claims against RPM International Inc. and its affiliates that are derivative of the asbestos claims against SPHC and Bondex. Through the Chapter 11 proceedings, the filing entities are seeking to formulate a consensual plan of reorganization pursuant to Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code. That plan of reorganization would establish a trust to compensate present and future asbestos-related claims at appropriate values set forth in the trust documents and approved by the bankruptcy court, and would also provide for the imposition of a channeling injunction that would direct all future SPHC-related and Bondex-related asbestos claims to the trust. In January 2013, a trial to estimate the aggregate current and future asbestos liabilities of the filing entities was conducted before Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Closing arguments were held on March 4, 2013, and the judge is expected to render an opinion by the end of May 2013. That opinion will be subject to appeal by any of the parties. At this time, it is not possible to predict how the judge will rule, the outcome of any appeal, how long the Chapter 11 proceedings will last, or the form of any ultimate resolution of the Chapter 11 proceedings. Prior to the bankruptcy filing, the filing entities had engaged in a strategy of litigating asbestos-related products liability claims brought against them. Claims paid during the year ended May 31, 2010, prior to the bankruptcy filing, were $92.6 million, which included defense-related payments during the year of $42.6 million. With the exception of the appeal bond satisfied during our 2012 third fiscal quarter and the potential payment described in Note 3, no claims have been paid since the bankruptcy filing and it is not contemplated that any claims will be paid until a plan of reorganization is confirmed and an asbestos trust is established and operating. Prior to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, we recorded asbestos-related contingent liabilities that included estimations of future costs, which by nature are subject to many uncertainties that may change over time, including (i) the ultimate number of claims filed; (ii) the amounts required to resolve both currently known and future unknown claims; (iii) the amount of insurance, if any, available to cover such claims, including the outcome of coverage litigation against the filing entities’ third-party insurers; (iv) future earnings and cash flow of the filing entities; (v) the impact of bankruptcies of other companies whose share of liability may be imposed on the filing entities under certain state liability laws; (vi) the unpredictable aspects of the litigation process including a changing trial docket and the jurisdictions in which trials are scheduled; (vii) the outcome of any such trials including judgments or jury verdicts, as a result of our more aggressive defense posture, which included taking selective cases to verdict; (viii) the lack of specific information in many cases concerning exposure to products for which one of our subsidiaries is responsible and the claimants’ diseases; (ix) potential changes in applicable federal and/or state law; and (x) the potential impact of various proposed structured settlement transactions or subsidiary bankruptcies by other companies, some of which are the subject of federal appellate court review, the outcome of which could have materially affected future asbestos-related liability estimates. As a result of their bankruptcy filing, SPHC and Bondex are precluded from paying dividends to shareholders and from making payments on any pre-bankruptcy filing accounts or notes payable that are due and owing to any other entity within the RPM group of companies (the “Pre-Petition Intercompany Payables”) or other pre-petition creditors during the pendency of the bankruptcy case, without the Bankruptcy Court’s approval. Moreover, no assurances can be given that any of the Pre-Petition Intercompany Payables will ever be paid or otherwise satisfied. When SPHC emerges from the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court, the subsequent accounting will be determined based upon the applicable circumstances and facts at such time, including the terms of any plan of reorganization. SPHC has assessed its liquidity position as a result of the bankruptcy filing and believes that it can continue to fund its and its subsidiaries’ operating activities and meet its debt and capital requirements for the foreseeable future. Historical Asbestos Liability Reserve — In fiscal 2006, management retained Crawford & Winiarski (“C&W”), an independent, third-party consulting firm with expertise in the area of asbestos valuation work, to assist it in calculating an estimate of Bondex’s liability for unasserted-potential-future-asbestos-related claims. C&W’s methodology to project Bondex’s liability for unasserted-potential-future-asbestos-related claims included an analysis of: (a) a widely accepted forecast of the population likely to have been exposed to asbestos; (b) epidemiological studies estimating the number of people likely to develop asbestos-related diseases; (c) the historical rate at which mesothelioma incidences resulted in the payment of claims by Bondex; (d) the historical settlement averages to value the projected number of future compensable mesothelioma claims; (e) the historical ratio of mesothelioma-related indemnity payments to non-mesothelioma indemnity payments; and (f) the historical defense costs and their relationship with total indemnity payments. Based upon the results of this analysis, Bondex recorded an accrued liability for asbestos claims through 2016 as of May 31, 2006 of $421.3 million. This amount was calculated on a pretax basis and was not discounted for the time value of money. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2008, the ten-year asbestos liability established as of May 31, 2006 was reviewed and evaluated. As part of that process, the credibility of epidemiological studies of Bondex’s mesothelioma claims, first introduced to management by C&W some two-and-one-half years earlier, was validated. At the core of the evaluation process, and the basis of C&W’s actuarial work on behalf of Bondex, is the Nicholson Study. The Nicholson Study is the most widely recognized reference in bankruptcy trust valuations, global settlement negotiations and the Congressional Budget Office’s work done on the proposed FAIR Act in 2006. Based on our ongoing comparison of the Nicholson Study projections and Bondex’s specific actual experience, which at that time continued to bear an extremely close correlation to the study’s projections, the asbestos liability projection was extended out to the year 2028. C&W assisted in calculating an estimate of our liability for unasserted-potential-future-asbestos-related claims out to 2028. C&W projected that the cost of extending the asbestos liability to 2028, coupled with an updated evaluation of Bondex’s current known claims to reflect its most recent actual experience, would be $288.1 million. Therefore, management added $288.1 million to the existing asbestos liability, which brought Bondex’s total asbestos-related balance sheet liabilities at May 31, 2008 to $559.7 million. On May 30, 2010, the day prior to the bankruptcy filing, Bondex had recorded an asbestos related product liability of $397.7 million.

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