Halliburton, the world’s largest oil field services company, said Monday that its DII industries and Kellogg Brown & Root units had emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy. As part of the settlement, Halliburton has agreed to pay $4.2 billion to settle asbestos claims from more than 400,000 people.

“The asbestos chapter in Halliburton’s history is closed,” Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Halliburton, said.

Halliburton anticipates funding the trusts for current and future asbestos and silica claimants by the end of January 2005.

The settlement, approved in July 2004 by Judge Judith Fitzgerald is final and non-appealable, Halliburton said.

KBR and DII Industries filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2003 after about 400,000 individuals filed claims against Halliburton over asbestos and silica exposure.

The majority of claims stem from Halliburton’s acquisition of DII, formerly Dresser Industries, which the company bought in the 1990s, when Vice President Dick Cheney was the company’s CEO.

(via PR Newswire)