Formica Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Formica Corp., whose countertops decorated U.S. homes for much of the 20th century, filed for bankruptcy protection as top shareholder Credit Suisse First Boston offered $51 million to help restructure $533 million of debt.

CSFB’s private equity business, a Formica investor since 1998, leads a group offering Formica’s bank lenders $100 million to pay down secured debt.

Chief Executive Frank A. Riddick III said he met with more than 600 employees at the company’s Evendale, Ohio, plant to assure them that Formica will operate without interruption as it negotiates with its creditors.

The company’s debt is almost equal to its $576.9 million in revenue over the first nine months of 2001, when the company had losses of $34.4 million, according to the Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Credit Suisse’s plan has no provision for payments to shareholders and note holders, the Warren, N.J., company said.