Chemours faces credit pressures

DuPont spin-off Chemours will face “credit pressures” following a federal judge’s decision to speed up personal injury trials against the two firms, according to credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service. Plaintiffs have filed 3,500 suits claiming they got sick from exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) that leaked into drinking water from a DuPont plant now owned by Chemours. In the first trial, which the two firms are appealing, the plaintiff received a $1.6 million award. The firms settled a second case out of court. For Chemours, the PFOA cases come at a time when its primary business, titanium dioxide, is “stressed because of market conditions,” Moody’s points out. In a move to shore up its cash position, Chemours just received a $190 million advance payment from DuPont for goods and services Chemours will provide.