U.K.’s Kwelm Companies to Pay Creditors More Than 50%

It’s been more than a decade since the London-based insurers Kingscroft, Walbrook, El Paso, Lime Street and Mutual – known collectively as the “Kwelm” companies – went into liquidation, but after a long wait it appears that their respective creditors will eventually receive payments in excess of 50 percent of the amounts owed.

The administrators have been slowly distributing some funds to creditors over the years, while reducing the cumulative amounts owed by the Kwelm group. The figure now stands at around $6.5 billion. So far creditors have either received, or been allocated about $2.2 billion.

While claims settlements have proceeded, and some of the companies’ books of business are expiring, there’s been a recent increase in the number of asbestos related claims that required administrators to set aside an additional $90 million, bringing the total for these claims to $990 million.