Mallinckrodt PLC shareholders are pressing for a seat at the bankruptcy bargaining table, where the future of the drugmaker will be determined.
Targeted in most of the opioid litigation that has driven other drugmakers to bankruptcy and hit with damages over pricing of a non-opioid product, Mallinckrodt filed for chapter 11 protection in October with a partial deal on a way out.
In broad strokes, the drugmaker wants to swap out debt for equity, and settle with the states, local governments, Native American tribes and others claiming damages for Mallinckrodt’s alleged wrongful marketing of painkillers.
Company shareholders, left behind under Mallinckrodt’s proposed bankruptcy scenario, are asking the court to appoint an official committee to speak for them in the chapter 11 negotiations.
Most companies that file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection sacrifice shareholders to pay creditors. Mallinckrodt, still profitable, could be an exception, shareholders said in court papers. Stephen Welch, chief transformation officer for Mallinckrodt, said the debt-for-equity swap proposal was the best the company could do as it is confronted with billions of dollars in potential damages.
