WHEN FRONTIERS reported a few days ago that the 100-year old film-maker Kodak has renewed it sponsorship of the PGA Tour, we postulated that it was a last ditch play to attract buyers for its portfolio of patents. Now that the company has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the question must be: 'will the PGA get its money?'
The US legal provision which allows a company some measure of protection from creditors (of which the PGA is now one) is designed to give some breathing space to resurrect itself. However, creditors would normally not expect anything like payment in full. As recently as late 2011 analysts valued its portfolio of patents at around $3bn, which was nearly 10-times last week's market capitalisation of the battered company.
Buyers are unlikely to pay top dollar now though as patents will be treated the same as other assets. The PGA will have to hope a trade buyer sees a future Kodak for itself.
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