C&D shareholders back restructuring plan

C&D Technologies Inc. said stockholders approved a financial structuring that should allow the company to reduce its total debt to $50 million from about $175 million.

Under the plan, virtually all of the debt in two series of notes would be converted into C&D common stock. The Exton maker of industrial batteries said investors had submitted virtually all of the notes for the exchange, which will give them as much as 95 percent of C&D's outstanding stock by Dec. 31.

At a special meeting Monday, shareholders also authorized the company to enact a stock split.

The company was delisted in October from the New York Stock Exchange because it failed to meet minimums on market capitalization and share price.

The shares, now traded over-the-counter, closed at 10 cents on Monday.    - Roslyn Rudolph