SEC orders Koppers Holdings to pay $1.3M for disclosure failures

Koppers, a distributor of treated wood and chemicals, will pay $1.3 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle allegations it failed to disclose material information about its debt in fiscal year 2019, according to an order filed Tuesday by the SEC.

The company issued a press release at the end of 2018 stating it would reduce its debt by $80 million in 2019. Koppers announced at year’s end 2019 that it had achieved that goal, and had knocked $81.6 million off its debt, according to the order.

However, the company hadn’t actually reduced that debt because by the end of 2019 it still owed $72 million to vendors, according to the SEC. Koppers delayed paying the vendors to make it appear it had reduced its debt, the SEC alleged.