Battery maker Exide Technologies has returned to bankruptcy protection for a third and likely final time, with bondholders poised to take over its European and Asia-Pacific operations, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Loaded down with about $817 million in debt and hundreds of millions of dollars of environmental problems, Exide is on the ropes financially and was facing liquidation, according to filings yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Talks with backers including investment firms MacKay Shields and Axar Capital Management produced enough financing to provide a possible way out of bankruptcy for the U.S., European and Asia-Pacific businesses, if they are sold. Preparations are under way for Exide to sell or transfer control of contaminated sites in the U.S., including a Vernon, Calif., recycling plant that was shut down in 2015 to ward off a threat of criminal prosecution.
