ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. film company Eastman Kodak Co. said it had reached a deal to swap its camera film business for a $2.8 billion debt owed to a pension fund.
If the bankruptcy court approves the deal, the U.K. Kodak Pension Plan, to which Kodak owes $2.8 billion, would do what it wants with its "personalized imaging ... (and) document imaging," businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2012, would then be able to emerge from bankruptcy. The Journal said the debt to the pension fund in Britain was the final major hurdle Kodak needed to clear before it could emerge from bankruptcy, reinventing itself as a commercial printing and servicing company.
Kodak shut down its desktop printer business in September.
The company also has a deal, valued at $210 million, to sell its document imaging unit to Brother Industries Ltd. But the court has yet to approve of that agreement.
Earlier, Kodak sold 1,100 patents to a business group that includes Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
Kodak sold the patent portfolio for $527 million. But the deal also included the companies agreeing to drop legal challenges against Kodak.
In the latest deal, Kodak rids itself of a $2.8 billion obligation. But Kodak is also to receive cash and other assets valued at $650 million, the Journal said.
