Tandberg Data Filed for Bankruptcy in Norway

Tandberg Data announced that both Tandberg Data ASA and Tandberg Storage ASA have filed for bankruptcy in the Norwegian courts on Friday, April 24, 2009. Tandberg Data subsidiaries; Tandberg Data Corporation in the US, Tandberg Data Japan, Tandberg Data Singapore, and Tandberg Data in Europe will continue operation without interruption. Tandberg Data remains 100% focused on serving customers worldwide through continued investments and support of its product portfolio to fulfill customer needs.

Tandberg Data has been unsuccessful in repaying a lapsed loan from Cyrus Capital. As a result Cyrus Capital had no other option other than to enforce their pledges of their loan. As Tandberg Data did not have sufficient capital to repay the loan, it had no alternative than to file for bankruptcy for the holding company, Tandberg Data ASA, and Tandberg Storage.

The Board of Directors of Tandberg Data made the decision to file for bankruptcy after consideration of all other alternatives, including a rights issue, which was unsuccessful. This process will allow Tandberg Data to deal with its cost and debt burden, to effectively restructure its operations and to continue its strategic direction of broadening its focus from being a tape company to a company that provides data protection solutions, including tape, disk, software and services.

Pat Clarke, CEO at Tandberg Data, started the process to transform the company at his appointment in January 2008. After a successful rights issue and operational cost reduction in 2008, and a review of the corporate strategy and focus, the global financial crisis impacted the company’s ability to successfully deal with its debt burden.

“The operations of the Tandberg Data subsidiaries will continue to operate in this new structure, with a much reduced debt burden”, says Pat Clarke, CEO at Tandberg Data. “The difficult steps we are taking now will enable us to build a company that can be successful in providing data protection solutions and support to our valued customers, suppliers, and business partners for a long time to come.”

Cyrus Capital has been a supportive partner throughout the process of finding a suitable solution to repay their loan. As a result of the bankruptcy of Tandberg Data ASA, Cyrus Capital will acquire the assets of this company, including accounts receivables and inventory. Cyrus will be the biggest shareholder in the new company, TAD Holdings AS, which will act and own all the existing Tandberg Data subsidiaries and assets.