Armstrong Lays Groundwork for Separation of Flooring Business

Lancaster, PA, February 9, 2016—Armstrong World Industries has announced plans to refinance its existing credit agreement in conjunction with and subject to the completion of the planned separation of the company's flooring business.

Subject to final terms and conditions, the company anticipates achieving lower interest expense, longer maturities and several minor technical improvements and would intend to use cash on hand, as well as $50 million from a dividend from Armstrong Flooring Inc. anticipated in connection with the separation, to reduce total debt outstanding.

In addition to the one-time dividend of $50 million that Armstrong Flooring will pay to Armstrong World Industries, the flooring business will pay $5.62 million in rent annually to Armstrong World Industries to retain its current headquarters on the Lancaster, Pennsylvania campus, according to Lancaster Online.

Armstrong World Industries has filed with the SEC a SC 13G statement of beneficial ownership, which is triggered when 5% position is reached. Goldman Sachs has 3,028,013 or 5.6%, replacing Vanguard at third of the top five investors. Vanguard owns 2,791,224 or 5.2% of the total shares.