-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, AvrRSsIGi5V/p+DaXr+BlsWa5omBUDZzPmD7o4DsLR8IJ9pSBcChfua/1D7f9Rma 9/M1k3OQHdbXXcsnDDAoDw== 0000950128-01-500173.txt : 20010605 0000950128-01-500173.hdr.sgml : 20010605 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0000950128-01-500173 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: 8-K PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 2 CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT: 20010603 ITEM INFORMATION: ITEM INFORMATION: FILED AS OF DATE: 20010604 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: CARBIDE GRAPHITE GROUP INC /DE/ CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000888918 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS [3620] IRS NUMBER: 251575609 STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE FISCAL YEAR END: 0731 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: 8-K SEC ACT: SEC FILE NUMBER: 001-15055 FILM NUMBER: 1653614 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: ONE GATEWAY CTR STREET 2: 19TH FL CITY: PITTSBURGH STATE: PA ZIP: 15222 BUSINESS PHONE: 4125623700 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: ONE GATEWAY CTR STREET 2: 19TH FL CITY: PITTSBURGH STATE: PA ZIP: 15222 8-K 1 j8878701e8-k.txt THE CARBIDE GRAPHITE GROUP, INC. 1 ================================================================================ UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 ------------------ FORM 8-K Current Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of Report (date of earliest event reported) June 3, 2001 Commission file number: 0-20490 THE CARBIDE/GRAPHITE GROUP, INC. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 57-1575609 (State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer incorporation or organization) Identification No.) One Gateway Center, 19th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (Address of principal executive offices) (412) 562-3700 (Registrant's telephone number, including area code) None - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (former name or former address, if changed since last year) 2 ITEMS 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 AND 9 Not applicable. ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS On June 3, 2001, the Registrant issued a press release announcing a comprehensive financial restructuring designed to stabilize its financial condition and provide it with the capital needed to complete its previously-announced hydrodesulfurization project for its needle coke affiliate, Seadrift Coke, L.P. A copy of the press release is attached as an exhibit to this report and is incorporated herein by reference. ITEM 7. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS (a) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF BUSINESS ACQUIRED Not Applicable (b) PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION Not Applicable (c) EXHIBIT NO. 99.1 Press Release Dated June 3, 2001 3 SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized. THE CARBIDE/GRAPHITE GROUP, INC. By: /s/ Walter B. Fowler -------------------------------------- Walter B. Fowler - Chief Executive Officer Dated: June 3, 2001 4 EXHIBIT INDEX EXHIBIT NO. DESCRIPTION ------- --------------- 99.1 Press Release Dated June 3, 2001 EX-99.1 2 j8878701ex99-1.txt PRESS RELEASE 1 Exhibit 99.1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THE CARBIDE/GRAPHITE GROUP, INC. ANNOUNCES COMPREHENSIVE FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING; EQUITY INVESTMENT BY QUESTOR PARTNERS Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - June 3, 2001 - The Carbide/Graphite Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CGGI) and Questor Management Company, LLC announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Questor Partners Fund II, L.P. and other funds managed by Questor will acquire $49 million of a new Carbide/Graphite convertible preferred stock in a transaction that would give Questor a controlling interest in Carbide/Graphite. An existing director of Carbide/Graphite will acquire $1 million of the same convertible preferred stock. In addition, Carbide/Graphite said it will offer $15 million of the same convertible preferred stock to its existing common stockholders in a follow-on rights offering to be completed once the issuance to Questor is consummated. Questor said it has agreed to purchase any of the convertible preferred stock offered to but not purchased by the existing common stockholders in the rights offering. "The Questor investment is the critical component of our financial restructuring that will stabilize Carbide/Graphite's financial condition and provide us with the capital needed to complete the previously announced hydrodesulfurization project for our needle coke affiliate, Seadrift Coke, L.P.," said Walter B. Fowler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Carbide/Graphite. "Teamed with Questor, we will be able to build on the process improvements we have made in recent years to reinvigorate the company and improve shareholder value." Carbide/Graphite produces industrial graphite products, including graphite electrodes for the electric arc furnace ("EAF") segment of the steel production industry, the needle coke from which graphite electrodes are produced and other graphite specialty productions. C/G also produces calcium carbide and its derivative products, principally acetylene gas, for use in specialty chemical, fuel gas and metallurgical applications. Carbide/Graphite's sales during its most recent fiscal year ended July 31, 2000 totaled approximately $207 million. Questor Management Company, headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, with an office in New York City, manages Questor Partners Fund II. "Carbide/Graphite fits the investment criteria of Questor Partners Fund II and we believe the company will benefit significantly from the financial wherewithal, management acumen and turnaround skills that Questor brings to the situation," said Jay Alix, co-founder and principal of Questor Management Company. "The company has excellent engineering, manufacturing and marketing capabilities, and has developed solid relationships with key customers around the world. Its future is bright." "While its sales, profits and stock price have been depressed by recent difficulties encountered by the global steel industry, we believe Carbide/Graphite is well positioned to recapture its growth momentum with the assistance of strategic restructuring, continued operating improvements and somewhat improved market conditions," said Michael D. Madden, a Questor principal who was involved in the transaction. Carbide/Graphite is one of the four largest producers of graphite electrodes used in EAF steel production, a sub-segment of the depressed steel industry that is by contrast growing at an annual rate of 3 percent. Carbide/Graphite also is the second largest producer of premium needle coke, and the proposed $30 million hydrodesulfurization facility planned for Seadrift Coke, L.P. will enable Carbide/Graphite to more efficiently manage its raw material costs and supply chain. The convertible preferred shares to be issued in the transaction will have a $50 per share purchase price and a dividend rate of 12 percent per year, payable in the form of additional convertible preferred shares or cash, at the discretion of Carbide/Graphite. The preferred stock will be convertible into Carbide/Graphite common stock at a fixed rate of approximately 44 shares of common stock for each share of preferred stock (an initial conversion price of $1.136 per common share or $1.087 per common share if the transaction closes after July 31, 2001). Questor also will be granted the right to purchase up to an additional $25 million in 2 convertible preferred stock for a three-year period at common conversion prices that escalate 2 percent per quarter from the initial conversion price. Carbide/Graphite also said it has reached a tentative agreement with the lenders under its $135 million revolving credit facility. Under terms of the tentative agreement, banks representing 50 percent of the commitment would sell their loans to Carbide/Graphite at a discount of approximately $20 million. Banks representing the remaining 50 percent of the commitment would convert $10 million of their indebtedness into shares of Carbide/Graphite common stock at the initial conversion price of $1.136 or $1.087, as applicable, per common share and, after an additional $7.5 million debt repayment, would convert the balance of the commitment into a $50 million term loan facility. Carbide/Graphite also said it has initiated the process of securing a new $60 million asset-based revolving facility to be used for working capital needs and capital expenditures, including the completion of the hydrodesulfurization project. Carbide/Graphite's financial restructuring, including the introduction of Questor Partners Fund II as the controlling stockholder, was developed by Carbide/Graphite with the assistance of Bear Sterns & Company, its financial advisor. The proposed transaction is subject to the approval of Carbide/Graphite's shareholders at a meeting planned for July. The transaction is also contingent on final approvals by Carbide/Graphite's current lenders and government regulatory agencies, as well as the obtainment of commitments for the $60 million revolving credit facility. Officials of Carbide/Graphite and Questor said that they expect the transaction to be completed by July 31, 2001. The securities offered to Questor have not been and will not be registered as part of the restructuring under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities. The Carbide/Graphite Group, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of industrial graphite and calcium carbide products with manufacturing facilities in St. Marys, Pennsylvania; Niagara Falls, New York; Louisville and Calvert City, Kentucky; and Seadrift, Texas. This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated herein, including the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances relating to the fact that Carbide/Graphite is in a highly competitive industry subject to rapid technological, product, and price changes. Other factors include ongoing liquidity and cash needs, the possibility that demand for Carbide/Graphite's products may not occur or continue at sufficient levels, changing global economic and competitive conditions, technological and other risks, costs and delays associated with the start-up and operation of major capital projects and corporate restructurings, changing governmental regulations, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in Carbide/Graphite's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Carbide/Graphite undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. -----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----