A U.S. bankruptcy court judge said Anadarko Petroleum may be liable for between $5 billion and more than $14 billion in a legal battle over the 2005 spinoff of the paint materials company Tronox.
Tronox, which makes titanium dioxide pigments used to make paints and plastics brighter and more durable, was spun off by Kerr-McGee Corp. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. then purchased Kerr-McGee in 2006.
Tronox has said Kerr-McGee stripped it of its most valuable assets before the spinoff. Tronox Ltd. filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 and emerged about two years later. The lawsuits were transferred to trusts as part of the bankruptcy restructuring.
Judge Allan Gropper issued a memorandum of opinion Thursday that found Kerr-McGee liable for fraudulent transfers tied to the spinoff. The 166-page memorandum is not final, and the judge ordered the parties to submit more briefing materials.
Anadarko said in a statement it "vehemently" disagrees with the memorandum and expects to pursue "every avenue available to us through the appellate process to protect the interests of our stakeholders, once a final judgment including damages has been rendered."