Pioneer Companies Close Restructuring of Indebtedness

Pioneer Companies, Inc. and nine subsidiaries closed on December 31, 2001 the restructuring of over $950 million in indebtedness in integrated proceedings under the CCAA in Montreal, and Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in Houston. Headquartered in Houston, Pioneer manufactures and markets chlorine and caustic soda and operates production facilities in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, as well as in Louisiana and Nevada.

Pioneer was represented by in-house counsel Kent Stephenson in Houston, with the assistance of Robert Feldman and Stephen Youngman of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, and Jean Fontaine and Simon Richard of Stikeman Elliott. Gilles Robillard of Richter & Partners Inc. acted as monitor in the CCAA proceedings. Charles Reagh and Jamie Murphy of Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales and Deborah Patterson and John Laidlaw of Patterson Palmer provided counsel in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Representing the Chapter 11 Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Canada were Kevin Zych of Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto, and a McCarthy Tétrault LLP team that included Sylvain Vauclair (bankruptcy), Robert Metcalfe (business), James Morand (tax) and Abraham Costin (real estate). Michael Sage and Dev Sen of Dewey Ballantine LLP acted as lead counsel for the committee in the U.S. proceedings, with Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin acting as financial advisors to the committee.