Offshore drilling contractor files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the fourth to do so this year.
(Courtesy Pacific Drilling)
The drillship Pacific Meltem.
Offshore staff
LUXEMBOURG – Pacific Drilling S.A. and certain of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The offshore drilling contractor has also entered into a restructuring support agreement with an ad hoc group of the largest holders of its outstanding bond debt. This consensual financial restructuring transaction will eliminate its about $1.1 billion in principal amount of outstanding bond debt through the cancellation and exchange of debt for new equity in the reorganized company.
In addition, the company has repaid its $50 million first lien superpriority revolving credit agreement with Angelo, Gordon Energy Servicer, LLC, as administrative agent and the lenders party thereto.
The drilling contractor said it expects to emerge by year-end with access to new capital in the form of an $80 million exit facility and with about $100 million of cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet.
