⛽️New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Nine Point Energy Holdings Inc.⛽️

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Nine Point Energy Holdings Inc.

Colorado-based Nine Point Energy Holdings Inc. (along with three affiliates, the “debtors”) is and independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. It is the successor to Triangle USA Petroleum Corporation, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2016 and confirmed a plan in March 2017. Four years later, it’s back in bankruptcy court. 😬

Followers of E&P bankruptcies have become accustomed to disputes relating to E&P companies and their midstream gathering, transportation and processing providers. Here, Caliber Midstream Partners LP was the debtors’ largest midstream services provider — “was” being the operative word after the debtors terminated the long-term midstream services agreements on the eve of bankruptcy. The story, however, doesn’t end there.

The debtors are willing to enter into a new arrangement with Caliber going forward. It’s unclear how the new arrangement might differ from the existing arrangement because redaction, redaction, redaction. The economic terms of the contract have not been disclosed. 🤔

And so here we are with another potential “running with the land” scenario. If you’re unfamiliar with what this is, you clearly haven’t been paying attention to E&P bankruptcy cases. Just Google it and you’ll pull up probably 8928394829248929 law firm articles on the topic. As this will be a major driver in the case, it probably makes sense to refresh your recollection.

Why are the debtors in bankruptcy? All of the usual reasons, e.g., the big drop in oil prices thanks to COVID-19 and Russia/OPEC. Nothing really new there.

So what does this filing achieve? For starters, it will give the debtors an opportunity to address the Caliber contracts. Moreover, it will avail the debtors of a DIP facility from their pre-petition lenders in the amount of ~$72mm — $18mm in new money and $54mm on a rollup basis (exclusive of an additional $16.1mm roll-up to account for pre-petition secured swap obligations)(8% interest with 2% commitment fee). Finally, the pre-petition-cum-DIP-lenders have agreed to serve as the stalking horse purchaser of the debtors’ assets with a credit bid floor of $250mm.

Date: March 15, 2021

Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Walrath)

Capital Structure: $256.9mm credit facility, $16.1mm swap obligations

Company Professionals:

  • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Richard Levy, Caroline Reckler, Jonathan Gordon, George Davis, Nacif Taousse, Alistair Fatheazam, Jonathan Weichselbaum, Andrew Sorkin, Heather Waller, Amanda Rose Stanzione, Elizabeth Morris, Sohom Datta) & Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Michael Nestor, Kara Hammond Coyle, Ashley Jacobs, Jacob Morton)

  • Board of Directors: Patrick Bartels Jr., Dominic Spencer, Frederic Brace, Gary Begeman, Alan Dawes

  • Financial Advisor: AlixPartners LLP (John Castellano)

  • Investment Banker: Perella Weinberg Partners LP (John Cesarz)

  • Claims Agent: Stretto (Click here for free docket access)

Other Parties in Interest:

  • Pre-petition & DIP Agent: AB Private Credit Investors LLC

    • Legal: Proskauer Rose LLP (Charles Dale, David Hillman, Michael Mervis, Megan Volin, Paul Possinger, Jordan Sazant) & Landis Rath & Cobb LLP (Adam Landis, Kerri Mumford, Matthew Pierce)

  • Ad Hoc Group of Equityholders: Shenkman Capital Management, JP Morgan Securities LLC, Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, Chambers Energy Capital

    • Legal: Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (Jeffrey Pawlitz, Matthew Dunn, Mark Stancil) & Richards Layton & Finger PA (John Knight, Amanda Steele, David Queroli)

  • Midstream Counterparty: Caliber Measurement Services LLC, Caliber Midstream Fresh Water Partners LLC, and Caliber North Dakota LLC

    • Legal: Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP (Alfredo Perez, Brenda Funk, Tristan Sierra, Edward Soto, Lauren Alexander) & Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP (Curtis Miller, Taylor Haga, Nader Amer)

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Golden Eagle Entertainment $ENT

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Golden Eagle Entertainment

July 22, 2020

Suffice it to say, high correlation to the airline and cruiseline industries is a credit negative these days. A few months ago Speedcast — a provider of information technology services and (largely satellite-dependent) communications solutions (i.e., cybersecurity, content solutions, data and voice apps, IoT, network systems) to customers in the cruise, energy, government and commercial maritime businesses — discovered this the hard way and free fell into bankruptcy court. There’s still no resolution of that case. Similarly, Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. ($ENT), a business that generates revenue by (i) licensing and managing media and entertainment content and providing related services to customers in the airline, maritime and other “away-from-home” nontheatrical markets, and (ii) providing satellite-based Internet access and other connectivity solutions to airlines, cruise ships and other markets, couldn’t avoid trouble once COVID-19 shutdown its core end users. No monthly recurring revenue model can save a company when its clients are effectively closed for business AND there’s $855.6mm of funded debt to service. Not to state the obvious.

Things may get worse before they get better. The company’s largest customer is Southwest Airlines Co. ($LUV) (21% of overall revenue) and it has a pretty bearish take on …

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  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Dorsey)

  • Capital Structure: $85mm RCF, $503.3mm TL, $188.7mm second lien notes, $82.5mm unsecured convertible notes.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Madeleine Parish, Ted Dillman, Helena Tseregounis, Nicholas Messana, Eric Leon) & Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Michael Nestor, Kara Hammond, Betsy Feldman)

    • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal LLC

    • Investment Banker: Greenhill & Co. Inc.

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition First Lien Admin Agent & DIP Agent: Citibank NA

      • Legal: Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP (David Griffiths, Bryan Podzius)

    • Ad Hoc DIP & First Lien Lender Group: Apollo Global Management, L.P., Eaton Vance Management, Arbour Lane Capital Management, Sound Point Capital Management, Carlyle Investment Management LLC, Mudrick Capital Management, BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.

      • Legal: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Scott Greenberg, Michael Cohen, Jason Goldstein) & Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP (Laura Davis Jones, TImothy Cairns)

    • Second Lien Agent: Cortland Capital Market Services LLC

    • Second Lien Noteholders: Searchlight Capital Partners LP

      • Legal: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP (Alan Kornberg, Michael Turkel, Irene Blumberg, Elizabeth Sacksteder) & Richards Layton & Finger PA (Daniel DeFranceschi, Zachary Shapiro)

    • Southwest Airlines Inc.

      • Legal: Vinson & Elkins LLP (William Wallander, Paul Heath, Robert Kimball, Matthew Struble) & Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP (Lucian Murley)

    • AT&T Corp.

      • Legal: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (Brian Lohan) & Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP (Derek Abbott, Brett Turlington)

    • Terry Steiner International

      • Legal: Loeb & Loeb LLP (Daniel Besikof, Geneva Shi)

    • Telesat International Limited

      • Legal: Hodgson Russ LLP (Garry Graber)

    • Nantahala Capital Management LLC

      • Legal: King & Spalding LLP (Arthur Steinberg, Scott Davidson) & The Rosner Law Group LLC (Frederick Rosner, Jason Gibson)

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Briggs & Stratton Corporation ($BGG)

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Briggs & Stratton Corporation

July 20, 2020

You may not know of Briggs & Stratton Corporation ($BGG) but it’s likely that you’ve used one of its products. Its small gasoline engines are used in outdoor power equipment like lawn mowers, and it designs, manufactures and markets power generation, pressure washer, lawn and garden, turf care and job site products. Its engines even power go-karts! It offers a variety of different brands and its products are in 100 countries around the world.

The company has a rich history. In Wisconsin circa 1908, inventor Stephen Briggs and investor Harold Stratton co-founded what, two years later, would be an auto and auto parts manufacturer incorporated as Briggs & Stratton. The two men added small gasoline engines to their product suite, powering early washing machines and reel mowers. The company went public in 1928. For decades thereafter, the business ventured into agricultural and military applications (producing generators for the WWII effort), ultimately revolutionizing the first lightweight aluminum engine in 1953. The post-War suburbian boom helped fuel the company’s growth in the 50s and 60s. Lots of lawns to mow! The company has iterated a lot since then: it no longer produces auto components, for instance. The core business is currently focused around two segments: engines (primarily sold to OEMs of lawn and garden equipment) and products (i.e., outdoor power equipment, job site products, etc.).

Unfortunately, a rich history doesn’t insulate companies from distress — a lesson that many long-standing companies have learned lately as the bankruptcy bin fills to the brim with companies with 100+ year histories (see, also, BJ Services LLC, Brooks Brothers Group, RTW Retailwinds, Congoleum Corporation). Alas, the company and four affiliates (the “debtors”) also could not avoid chapter 11, filing early Monday in the Eastern District of Missouri, and citing (i) cautious ordering patterns from channel partners, (ii) weather, (iii) Sears’ demise and bankruptcy (bankruptcy dominos!!), (iv) consumer preference shifts, and (v) China, for its troubles. With approximately $200mm of notes maturing at year end (Dec) and a springing maturity of 9/15/20 if the notes are still outstanding by then, the debtors, to top things off, faced real challenges related to the balance sheet.

Because of all of the aforementioned factors, the debtors implemented a “strategic repositioning plan” that included shutting plants, laying off workers, suspending employee benefits (including underfunded and unfunded pensions), lowering capital and discretionary spending, eliminating a shareholder dividend and suspending a share repurchase program. COVID-19, as we’ve seen over and over again, got in the way of these efforts. “The preliminary estimate of the sales decline caused by the pandemic for the fiscal fourth quarter was $157 million and for the fiscal year was $197 million.” 😬

The good news is that the debtors have a buyer in the wings. Bucephalus Buyer LLC, a dramatically-named affiliate of KPS Capital Partners LP entered into a stalking horse purchase agreement with the debtors pursuant to which it would buy the debtors’ assets and equity interests in non-debtor subsidiaries for $550m in cash plus the assumption of certain liabilities. To fund this process (and take out the ABL in full), the debtors obtained (i) a commitment from prepetition ABL lender, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, for a $412.5mm DIP ABL (L+3.5%), (ii) a commitment from KPS for a $265mm DIP Term Loan facility (L+7%) and (iii) consent to use the ABL lenders’ cash collateral. The DIP agreement mandates that a qualified sale order be entered by the bankruptcy court no later than September 24, 2020 (subject to caveats that would push the date out to December 31, 2020).

  • Jurisdiction: E.D. of Missouri (Judge Schermer)

  • Capital Structure: $260.4mm North American ABL, $53mm LOCs, $12.4mm Swiss ABL (JP Morgan Chase Bank NA), 202.7mm unsecured notes (Wilmington Trust NA)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP (Gary Holtzer, Ronit Berkovich, Debora Hoehne, Martha Martir, Andrew Citron, Edward Soto, Janiel Jodi-Ann Myers, Lauren Alexander, Corey Berman) & Carmody MacDonald PC (Robert Eggmann, Christopher Lawhorn, Danielle Suberi, Thomas Riske, Lindsay Leible Combs, Angela Drumm)

    • Financial Advisor: EY (Jeffrey Ficks)

    • Investment Banker: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. (Reid Snellenbarger, Jeffrey Lewis)

    • Claims Agent: KCC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition & DIP Agent ($677.5mm): JPMorgan Chase Bank NA

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Peter Knight, Jonathan Gordon)

    • Stalking Horse Purchaser ($550mm): Bucephalus Buyer, LLC (KPS Capital Partners LP)

      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Chad Husnick, Gregory Pesce, Claire Stephens, Guy Macarol) & Armstrong Teasdale LLP (Richard Engel)

    • Ad Hoc Group of Noteholders

      • Legal: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP

      • Financial Advisor: Imperial Capital LLC

🌎 New Chapter 11 Filing - Lakeland Tours LLC (d/b/a WorldStrides) 🌎

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Virginia-based Lakeland Tours LLC (d/b/a WorldStrides) and 22 affiliates (the “debtors”) filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York, the latest in a relatively small group of COVID-related victims to end up in bankruptcy court. Similar to other pure-play filings (e.g., several Latin American airlines and Hertz Corporation $HTZ)), the debtors are in the travel industry; they are a provider of educational travel experiences in the US and abroad; they are the US’ largest accredited travel program serving hundreds of thousands of students and hundreds of universities annually. And they were doing well before the pandemic: in fiscal ‘19, the company generated approximately $650mm in net revenue and management projected $840mm in net revenue in ‘20. As we all know, “experiences” are all the rage these days and international student travel is far more common today than it was even five years ago (PETITION Note: seriously, folks, the company doesn’t even try to hide the social element to this … the above photo just screams “Pay us for an experience racked with non-stop selfies!). According to StudentUniverse and Skift, “[t]he student traveler represents fully one-fifth of all international arrivals in the travel industry, today. They command a market value of some $320 billion….”

A worldwide travel shutdown will obviously negatively impact that trend. And, by extension, obliterate the company’s projections. Indeed, the debtors were “decimated” by the worldwide shutdown of nonessential travel. Revenue? Lost. Future bookings? Crushed. Refund requests? Voluminous. The “negative net bookings” must have been off the charts. All in, these factors created a $200mm liquidity hole for the debtors.

This need for new capital, when coupled with the debtors’ burdensome capital structure ($768mm of funded debt), precipitated the need for a restructuring. And, alas, the debtors have a restructuring support agreement (the “RSA”) agreed to by the debtors’ prepetition secured lenders, their hedge provider and their equity sponsors, Eurazeo North America and Primavera Capital Limited. The RSA commits these consenting stakeholders to, among other things, a $200mm new capital infusion (exclusive of fees) split 50/50 between the consenting lenders and the sponsors which will roll into exit debt and equity.* Here are the highlights:

  • The $100mm provided by the lenders will roll into an exit facility;

  • The $150mm roll-up will roll into a second-out term loan take-back facility; and

  • The $100mm provided by the equity sponsors will convert into 100% of the common stock of the reorganized debtors (subject to dilution from a management incentive plan).

  • Holders of $126mm in subordinated seller notes will get wiped out along with existing equity interests.

  • General unsecured creditors will ride-through paid in full.

  • The major parties to the RSA will get releases under the proposed plan: creditors who vote to reject the plan will need to affirmatively opt-out of the releases.

The debtors already commenced solicitation and hope to confirm the plan on or about August 19. The post-reorg capital structure will look like this:

Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 11.33.25 AM.png

The above graphic is the biggest “tell” that the filing is predominantly about access to fresh capital. The deleveraging (of only $100mm) is rather secondary and inconsequential relative to the $200mm cash infusion. Which begs the question: if the debtors perform dramatically under business plan in coming years — perhaps, uh, due to a decrease in international student travel — will the company be in need of another restructuring? PETITION Note: as we write this, a talking head is pontificating on CNBC that business travel will be significantly lower in coming years than it had been — confirming the premise of this Bloomberg piece. If parents aren’t traveling for work, will they let their children travel for school?

The debtors certainly acknowledge the risks. In the “risk factors” section of their Disclosure Statement, they note that a “second wave” of COVID-19 could impact results (PETITION Note: we need to conquer the “first wave” to get to the “second wave,” but, yeah, sure.). They state:

The Debtors cannot predict when any of the various international or domestic travel restrictions will be eased or lifted. Moreover, even when travel advisories and restrictions are lifted, demand for study abroad and student travel may remain reduced for a significant length of time, and the Debtors cannot predict if and when demand will return to pre-pandemic levels. Due to the discretionary nature of educational travel spending, the Debtors’ revenues are heavily influenced by the condition of the U.S. economy and economies in other regions of the world. Unfavorable conditions in these broader economies have resulted, and may result in the future, in decreased demand for educational travel, changes in booking practices and related policies by the Debtors’ competitors, all of which in turn have had, and may have in the future, a strong negative effect on the Debtors’ business. In particular, the Debtors’ bookings may be negatively impacted by the adverse changes in the perceived or actual economic climate, including higher unemployment rates, declines in income levels and loss of personal wealth resulting from the impact of COVID-19. The Debtors’ bookings may also be impacted by continued and prolonged school closings.

And they add:

This is the first time since September 11, 2001 that the Debtors have suspended their tours, and is the first time the Debtors have completely suspended their tours for an extended period of time. As a result of these unprecedented circumstances, the Debtors are not able to predict the full impact of such a suspension. In particular, the Debtors cannot predict the impact on financial performance and cash flows required for cash refunds of fares for cancelled tours as a result of a suspension of tours if such suspensions are prolonged further than anticipated, as well as the public’s concern regarding the health and safety of travel, and related decreases in demand for travel. Depending on the length of the suspension and level of customer acceptance of future tour credits, the Debtors may be required to provide additional cash refunds for a substantial portion of the balance of deferred tours, as customers who have opted to defer tours may request a cash refund.

And so it looks like the debtors are conservatively projecting $367.9mm of revenue in fiscal year 2021, slightly more than half of what they did in ‘19. They don’t expect to revert back to projected ‘20 numbers until at least 2024. Yes, 2024.

Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 1.28.26 PM.png

Now, generally, projections are almost always worthless. As the debtors’ risk factors suggest here, they may be even more worthless than usual depending upon how COVID shakes out. At least management appears to be realistic here that the business will not return to pre-COVID levels for some time. Let’s hope that a vaccine comes and they’re positioned to surprise to the upside.**

_____

*$150mm of pre-petition secured debt will roll-up into the DIP.

**Houlihan Lokey pegs valuation between approximately $625mm and $745mm as of September 30, 2020.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge Garrity)

  • Capital Structure: $642mm RCF/TL/LOCs, $126mm subordinated seller notes

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Nicole Greenblatt, Jennifer Perkins, Susan Golden, Whitney Fogelberg, Kimberly Pageau, Elizabeth Jones)

    • DIrectors: Bob Gobel, Lisa Mayr (ID)

    • Financial Advisor: KPMG LLP (James Grace, Thomas Bibby)

    • Investment Banker: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. (Sam Handler, Stephen Spencer)

    • Claims Agent: Stretto (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition & DIP Agent: Goldman Sachs Bank USA

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Adam Goldberg, Hugh Murtagh)

    • Seller Noteholders: Metalmark Capital Holdings LLC & Silverhawk Capital Partners

      • Legal: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (Michael Davis)

    • Sponsors: Eurazeo North America & Primavera Capital Limited

      • Legal: Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP (Paul Zumbro, George Zobitz) & Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (Michael Torkin)

      • Financial Advisor: PJT Partners LP

    • Ad Hoc Group of Consenting Lenders

      • Legal: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Scott Greenberg, Steven Domanowski, Jeremy Evans)

      • Financial Advisor: Rothschild & Co.

💪 New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - 24 Hour Fitness Inc. 💪

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24 Hour Fitness Inc.

June 15, 2020

California-based 24 Hour Fitness Inc. (along with ten affiliates, the “debtors”) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the District of Delaware after it became apparent that it’s hard to sustain a fitness business when, as a practical matter, you’re really 0 Hour Fitness Inc. When you have 3.4mm customers across 445 (leased) locations across the United States, it’s awfully hard for a business that typically does $1.5b in revenue and $191 in adjusted EBITDA to make money when a pandemic rips through the nation and shuts down business entirely. This, ladies and gentlemen, like the few airlines who have filed for bankruptcy to date, is as pure-play a COVID-19 story as they come these days.

Now, that’s to not to suggest that everything was copacetic prior to the quarantine. The business had some pimples on it. The debtors’ CRO cites the selling/operating model’s negative impact on financial performance. But the biggest and scariest pimples are the debtors’ balance sheet and lease portfolio. The former includes $1.4b of funded debt; the latter, 445 locations leased across the country, of which 135 have already been deemed unnecessary and are the subject of a first day executory contract rejection motion (PETITION Note: the debtors denote this as “a first wave.”). When revenues stop coming into the coffers, these tremendous amounts become quite an overhang and a liquidity drain.

The filing, among other things, helps solve for the liquidity issue. The debtors have obtained a commitment for a $250mm new-money senior secured DIP facility from an ad hoc group of lenders. While there is no restructuring support agreement in place here, the ad hoc group is comprised of 63.3% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding under the prepetition credit facility and approximately 73.9% of the face amount of the $500mm in senior unsecured notes. In other words, there’s a solid amount of support here but not enough yet to command the senior class of debt.

Luckily, the debtors gave themselves a form of pre-DIP. Wait. Huh? What are we referring to?

…the Debtors were obliged to close all of their fitness clubs nationwide on March 16, 2020, in response to this national emergency. As a result, the Debtors were no longer able to generate new sources of revenue (by winning new members) and, on or about April 15, 2020, the Debtors suspended billing on account of monthly membership dues.fn

In the footnote, the debtors note:

To date, litigation has been commenced in connection with the Debtors’ monthly billing on a post-March 16 basis, notwithstanding, among other things, the Debtors’ rights under their various membership agreements. The Debtors reserve all rights, claims, and defenses in this regard.

Uh, apparently, 0 Hour Fitness Inc. = 30 Days of Payment Inc. We’ll see whether this short-term liquidity grab created long term customer retention issues.*

Moreover, the fact that they apparently laid off thousands of employees via conference call probably won’t amount to a whole lot of goodwill. Just sayin’.

Now it’s wait and see. The debtors have reopened approximately 20 locations in Texas and hope to have the majority of their other non-rejected clubs open by the end of June. We’ll see if the uptick in COVID cases in certain states throws a wrench in that plan. To combat any COVID-related perception risk, the debtors are instituting some new measures:

…the Debtors have taken an innovative approach to the reopening of their clubs, instituting market-leading strategies to keep their members and employees safe, including an app-based reservation system to ensure that their clubs remain in compliance with applicable social distancing guidelines, a touchless check-in system to limit members’ and employees’ contact with surfaces, and cleaning schedules that ensure that entire clubs are sanitized every hour. (emphasis added)

Gosh. We see sh*t like this — the airlines are also making similar statements about newly implemented cleanliness standards — and it really makes us wonder: what the bloody hell were these cesspools doing pre-COVID?!?!? Clearly not enough.

And, yet, otherwise, we have some sympathy for these businesses. This is a brand new paradigm. The debtors indicate that they’re implementing a reservation-based system where people are locked into an hour-max workout after which the gym will be closed for 30 minutes for a “deep clean.” That is not exactly a seamless and frictionless user experience. Moreover, what kind of chemicals are going to be dumped all over the facility every 60 minutes? These are tough issues.

As far as social distancing:

…the Debtors are utilizing space in their clubs in creative ways in order to continue to offer members a range of amenities and services. For example, the Debtors are utilizing their basketball courts to hold group exercise classes, including by relocating stationary bike equipment to continue to offer indoor cycling classes, so that members and equipment can be properly spaced to comply with social distancing guidelines.

Source: First Day Declaration

Source: First Day Declaration

No offense but does THIS really worth going to the gym for? You can use apps for a fraction of the cost and do this at home…mask-less.

So what now?

The DIP financing will buy the debtors some time to evaluate new trends. Will those people who paid for a month when the gym was closed come back? Will the news about employee treatment effect the “brand”? Will all of those people who bought home gyms or learned to run need to go to a gym? The re-opening notwithstanding, all of these questions will directly impact valuation. Indeed, how do you value this business with so many massive question marks? Well, luckily, we have the debt to get a sense of what that answer might be. And considering that, at the time of this writing, the term loan is bid in the high 20s and the unsecured notes are bid around 3 — that’s right, 3 — it’s pretty clear who is getting (generally) wiped out in this scenario and where the market thinks the value breaks.

*Honestly, this was a dirty move but from the debtors’ perspective, it also totally makes sense.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Owens)

  • Capital Structure: $95.2mm ‘23 RCF, $835.1mm ‘25 Term Loan, $500mm 8% ‘22 unsecured notes (Wells Fargo Bank NA)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP (Ray Schrock, Ryan Preston Dahl, Kevin Bostel, Kyle Satterfield, Ramsey Scofield, Jackson Que Alldredge, Jacob Mezei, Alexander Cohen, Sarah Schnorrenberg) & Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP (Laura Davis Jones, Timothy Cairns, Peter Keane)

    • Directors: Marc Beilinson, Stephen Hare, Roland Smith

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: FTI Consulting Inc. (Daniel Hugo)

    • Investment Banker: Lazard Freres & Co. LLC (Tyler Cowan)

    • Real Estate Advisor: Hilco Real Estate LLC

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Ad Hoc Group

      • Legal: O’Melveny & Myers LLP (John Rapisardi, Adam Rogoff, Daniel Shamah, Diana Perez, Adam Haberkorn) & Richards Layton & Finger PA (Mark Collins, Michael Merchant, David Queroli)

    • Prepetition Agent: Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc.

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Alfred Xue)

    • DIP Agent: Wilmington Trust

      • Legal: Covington & Burling (Ronald Hewitt)

    • Senior Notes Indenture Trustee: Wells Fargo Bank NA

      • Legal: Reed Smith LLP (Eric Schaffer, Luke Sizemore, Mark Eckard)

    • Large equityholders: AEA, Fitness Capital Partners LP, 2411967 Ontario Limited

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Centric Brands Inc. ($CTRC)

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Centric Brands Inc.

May 18, 2020

New York-based Centric Brands Inc. ($CTRC)(f/k/a Differential Brands Group Inc., Joe’s Jeans Inc., and Innovo Group Inc.) and 34 affiliates (the “debtors”) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week after COVID-19 ripped through the economy and disrupted retail operations all over the country. You’ve likely never heard of Centric Brands Inc. (unless you happened to have a soft spot for esoteric brand stocks). But there is a very good chance that you’ve purchased one of its licensed products or one of its privately-owned brands. They’re ubiquitous. And they’re ubiquitous because the company’s reach has expanded aggressively over the years.

The company started in 1987, acquired Joe’s Jeans in 2007, acquired Hudson Brand in 2013, merged with Robert Graham in 2015, acquired SWIMS in 2016 and then acquired Global Brands Group Holding Limited in 2018 for $1.2b. The majority of the company’s $1.7b of funded debt emanates out of that last transaction. More on this in a moment.

In addition to the aforementioned private brands, the company designs, produces, merchandises, manages and markets approximately 100 brands pursuant to various licenses. These brands include AllSaints, Calvin Klein, Disney, Jessica Simpson, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger and many more. The company sells its licensed and private-brands in one of three categories: kids, accessories, and men’s and women’s apparel. The former two grew from ‘18 to ‘19. The latter…well…not so much. All of the company’s product is made in Asia or Mexico.

For distribution, the company sells wholesale to, among others, bigbox retailers like Walmart Inc. ($WMT) and Target Inc. ($TGT), to department stores like Macy’s Inc. ($M), Kohls Corporation ($KSS) and J.C. Penney Corporation ($JCPQ), to off-price retailers like TJX Companies ($TJX) and Ross Stores ($ROST), and on Amazon Inc. ($AMZN). It also has brick-and-mortar stores for its private label brands Robert Graham (33 stores) and SWIMS (one store) as well as certain licensed brands like BCBG (46 stores), Joe’s Jeans (13), and Herve Leger (one). Finally, the company operates partner shop-in-shops for BCBG with big department stores.

Bankruptcy aficionados are familiar with the BCBG brand. BCBG filed for bankruptcy itself back in March 2017. Marquee Brands LLC later acquired the entire portfolio of brands from BCBG Max Azria Global Holdings — including BCBGMAXAZRIA, BCBGeneration and Herve Leger — for $108mm later that year. Marquee’s licensing partner? Global Brands Group Holding Limited, which, as noted above, is now part of Centric Brands. Through license agreements entered into back in July 2017, Centric has the right to manufacture and distribute certain licensed BCBG product; it also has the right to use certain intellectual property for retail and e-commerce sales.

Back in April, BCBG and the company started getting after it. BCBG was pissed because the company owed it $3mm in royalty payments. After the company continued not to pay, BCBG terminated the agreement. Now the parties have a settlement. The company is rejecting the licensing agreements, agreeing to let BCBG setoff $3mm against its pre-petition claim (which is capped at $20mm and pledged in support of the plan), and agreeing to pay ongoing royalties on the goods to be supplied to wholesale partners. Marquee Brands LLC is taking the licenses back and intends to add BCBG to its e-commerce portfolio.*

Soooooo…what happens to those brick-and-mortar locations we mentioned earlier? The debtors filed a motion already seeking to reject nonresidential real property leases effective as of the petition date. The debtors seek approval to reject seven Robert Graham leases, 42 BCBG leases and one Joe’s Jeans lease. Of those rejected leases 25 are in locations managed by Simon Property Group ($SPG). But, sure, the “A” malls are juuuuuuuust fine folks. Nothing to see here.

Well, except the capital structure. It’s so large it’s kinda hard to miss. The company has:

  • $163.9mm RCF,

  • $20mm ‘20 term loan bridge,

  • $631.9mm ‘23 first lien term loan (HPS Investment Partners, Ares Capital Corporation)

  • $719.8mm second lien term loan (GSO Capital Partners LP and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund),

  • $200.3mm securitization facility, and

  • $28.7mm unsecured convertible notes plus $10mm modified convertible notes.

Luckily the holdings are concentrated among the above-noted funds. Accordingly, HPS, Ares and Blackstone will end up lenders in an exit first lien term loan and own the reorganized equity on the backend of this restructuring. HPS and Ares will own 30% of the equity and Blackstone will own 70% (subject to dilution). Your kids’ favorite licensed casualwear powered by private equity!**

*It is unclear what Marquee Brands LLC will do with the BCBG wholesale business. This article suggests they’ll do something and then goes on to emphasize only the e-commerce approach.

**The case will be powered by a $435mm DIP credit facility of which $275mm will be provided by the revolving lenders (and will rollup the pre-petition facility) and roll into an exit facility. The remaining $160mm will be a DIP term loan provided by Blackstone which will role into the exit first lien term loan with the first lien term lenders. The debtors will also extend its existing Securitization Facility.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge )

  • Capital Structure: $163.9mm RCF, $20mm ‘20 term loan bridge, $631.9mm ‘23 first lien term loan, $719.8mm second lien term loan, $200.3mm securitization facility, $28.7mm unsecured convertible notes, $10mm modified convertible notes

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Ropes & Gray LLP (Gregg Galardi, Christine Pirro Schwarzman, Daniel Egan, Emily Kehoe)

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: Alvarez & Marsal LLC (Joseph Sciametta)

    • Investment Banker: PJT Partners LP (James Baird)

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition First Lien Revolver & DIP Agent ($275mm): ACF Finco I LP

      • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Julia Frost-Davies, Laura McCarthy)

    • First Lien Lenders: HPS Investment Partners, Ares Capital Corporation

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Richard Levy, James Ktsanes)

    • Preptition Second Lien TL & DIP TL Agent ($160mm): US Bank NA

      • Legal: Nixon Peabody LLP (Catherine Ng)

    • Second Lien Lenders and DIP TL Lenders: GSO Capital Partners LP and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund

      • Legal: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Ira Dizengoff, Philip Dublin, Brad Kahn)

    • Receivables Purchase Agreement Agent

      • Legal: Mayer Brown LLP (Brian Trust)

    • Major equityholders: Cede & Co., GSO Capital Opportunities Fund III LP, GSO CST III Holdco LP, TCP Denim LLC, Tengram Capital Partners Fund II LP, Ares Capital Corporation

🚚 New Chapter 11 Filing - Comcar Industries Inc. 🚚

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Comcar Industries Inc.

May 17, 2020

Florida-based Comcar Industries Inc. and 31 affiliates (the “debtors”) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the District of Delaware — the latest trucking company to end up in bankruptcy court (Callback to “🚛 Dump Trucks 🚛 ,” a PETITION deep dive into the industry which included a review of Celadon Group Inc.’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing). Comcar is a holding company with four stand-alone trucking business units ((as well as (a) logistics services, (b) supplies, parts and repairs, and (c) fleet maintenance services)). Through the bankruptcy filing, the debtors intend to effectuate a sale of all four units.

Each unit services a different part of the trucking market:

  • CCC Transportation LLC (“CCC”) is a bulk bulk carrier that primarily handles construction materials;

  • CT Transportation LLC (“CT”) is a flatbed carrier that specializes in construction materials;

  • CTL Transportation LLC (“CTL”) is a liquid bulk chemical transporter; and

  • MCT Transportation LLC (“MTL”) is a refrigerated and dry van commodities transporter.

Formed in the 1950s, the debtors grew over the years in order to provide all of these offerings. To do so, they, naturally, took on debt. Funded debt stands at $64.8mm including an ABL, a term loan, and various real estate-backed loans. Servicing the debt has been a challenge going as far back as 2014.

Trucking industry struggles have compounded matters. Per the debtors:

The trucking industry has experienced significant headwinds starting in 2019. During the first half of 2019, the $800 billion American trucking industry began to experience a recession and a reported 640 trucking companies went bankrupt. By mid-2019, the trucking freight market continued to soften. The combination of a decline in overall freight tonnage and excessive truck capacity in the market led to a significant decline in freight rates, and customers began to take bids at lower freight rates. Compared to the year immediately prior, 2019 showed a steady decline in freight rates, including spot freight rates and contractual rates.

Rates weren’t the only problem. Volumes also declined.

During 2019, truck volumes decreased for nine consecutive months and the trucking industry braced itself for a decrease in demand through the third quarter of 2020. As a result, spot and contract prices, which increased thirty percent (30%) in 2018, decreased twenty percent (20%) in 2019. The decrease in truckload linehaul rates was driven by (1) spot rates that were below contract rates by unsustainably larger margins than, (2) capacity additions and (3) stalled growth in the consumer and industrial economy.

All of this hit the the top and bottom lines. In 2019, the debtors suffered a 26% YOY revenue decrease across all units. CCC got hit the most, down 44.2%. CT got hit the least. Yet even that was down 19.7%. In total, the debtors lost $25mm in 2019 and $6mm through March 27, 2020.

Luckily, as with Celadon Group Inc. previously, there is a market for these trucks. The debtors have a buyer lined up for the CT and CTL businesses for $9mm and $8.6mm, respectively. Similarly, the debtors have a buyer for the MCT business. They would like to proceed with private sales of each of these businesses stating that “…the terms offered … are materially superior to the terms that the Debtors could hope to achieve at any auctions….” Pursuant to the proposed DIP, these sales need to be consummated by the end of July.

The debtors pre-petition ABL and Term Loan lenders (which includes an affiliate of PIMCO) have committed to funding a $15mm DIP — some of which will pay down pre-petition debt, some of which ($1.33mm) will roll-up pre-petition term loans, and the rest for liquidity to fund the cases.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Dorsey)

    1. Capital Structure: $14mm ABL (Sterling National Bank), $25.3mm Term Loan (B2 FIE VIII LLC as lender, US Bank NA as agent), $6.2mm secured real estate loan (CenterState Bank NA), $7mm CWI Real Estate Loan (Commercial Warehousing Inc.),

    2. Professionals:

      • Legal: DLA Piper US LLP (Stuart Brown, Jamila Justine Willis, Tara Nair)

      • Independent Manager: Tobias Keller

      • Financial Advisor/CRO: FTI Consulting Inc. (Andrew Hinkelman)

      • Investment Banker: Bluejay Advisors LLC

      • Claims Agent: Donlin Recano (*click on the link above for free docket access)

    3. Other Parties in Interest:

      • Prepetition ABL Agent: Sterling National Bank

        • Legal: Greenberg Traurig LLP

      • Prepetition Term Loan Agent and DIP Agent: US Bank NA

        • Legal: Seward & Kissel LLP

      • Prepetition Term Loan Lender & DIP Lender: B2 FIE VIII LLC (Pimco)

        • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Jason Bosworth)

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Neiman Marcus Group LTD LLC

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Neiman Marcus Group LTD LLC

May 7, 2020

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus Group LTD LLC, Bergdorf Goodman Inc. and 22 other debtors filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas late this week. If anyone is seeking an explanation as to why that may be outside the obvious pandemic-related narrative, look no farther than this monstrosity:

Screen Shot 2020-05-08 at 4.51.32 PM.png

A quick reality check: that $5b capital structure isn’t attached to an international enterprise with hundreds or thousands of stores. You know, like Forever21. Rather, that horror show backs a 68 store business (43 Neiman Marcus, 2 Bergdorf, 22 Last Call). Ah….gotta love the good ol’ $5b leveraged buyout.

This case is all about “BIG.”

Big capital structure stemming from a big LBO by two big PE funds, Ares Capital Management and CPP Investment Board USRE Inc.

Big brands with big price tags. PETITION Note: top unsecured creditors include Chanel Inc., Gucci America, Dolce and Gabbana USA Inc., Stuart Weitzman Inc., Theory LLC, Christian Louboutin, Yves Saint Laurent America Inc., Burberry USA, and more. There is also a big amount allocated towards critical vendors: $42.5mm. Nobody messes with Gucci, folks. Here’s a live shot of a representative walking out of court confident that they’ll get their money:

Gucci.gif

Big fees. More on this below.

Big, complicated — and controversial — multi-year re-designation and asset stripping transactions that were part of the debtors’ (and now non-debtors’) elaborate strategy to restructure out-of-court by kicking the can down the road. This is undoubtedly going to stir a big fight in the case. More on this below too.

Big value destruction.

Here is what will happen to the pre-petition capital structure under the proposed term sheet and restructuring support agreement filed along with the chapter 11 papers — a deal that has the support of 78% of the term lenders, 78% of the debentures, 99% of the second lien notes, 70% of the third lien notes, and 100% of the private equity sponsors:

Screen Shot 2020-05-08 at 4.51.32 PM.JPG

The Asset-Based Revolving Credit Facility and FILO Facility will get out at par. There’ll be a $750mm exit facility. Beyond that? All that red constitutes heaps and heaps of value that’s now essentially an option. It’s a bet that there is a place in the future for brick-and-mortar luxury department stores. Pursuant to the deal, the “Extended Term Loans” will get the lion’s share of equity (87.5%, subject to dilution). The rest of the capital structure will get small slivers of reorganized equity. General unsecured creditors will get “their pro rata share of a cash pool.” The private equity sponsors will get wiped out but for their hoped-for liability releases.

Back to those big fees. The biggest issue for this week was the debtors’ proposed $675mm new money DIP credit facility (that comes in junior to the existing ABL in priority…in other words, no roll-up here). The DIP is essentially 13% paper chock full of fees (including a backstop fee payable in “NewCo equity” at 30% discount to plan value). One disgruntled party, Mudrick Capital Management, a holder of $144mm of the term loan, appears to have beef with Pimco and other DIP backstop parties — saying that the backstop agreement is inappropriate and the DIP fees are outrageous, likening the fee grab to a COVID hoarding mentality — and therefore felt compelled to cross-examine the debtors’ banker as to the reasonableness of it all. If you’ve ever imagined a kid suing other kids for not picking him for their dodgeball team, it would look something like this did.

And so Lazard’s testimony basically boiled down to this:

“Uh, yeah, dude, nobody knows when the economy will fully open up. The company only has $100mm of cash on the petition date. And IT’S NOT OPERATING. That money is enough for maybe 3 weeks of cash burn given that the debtors intend to continue paying rent (unlike most other retailers that have filed for bankruptcy lately). Damn pesky high-end landlords. Anyway, so we’ll burn approximately $300mm between now and when stores are projected to reopen in July/August. No operating cash flow + meaningful cash burn = risky AF lending environment. It’s unprecedented to lend into a situation with a cash burn that, while it pales in comparison to something like Uber, is pretty damn extreme. Look at the J.Crew DIP: it ain’t exactly cheap to lend in this market. There are no unencumbered assets; there certainly isn’t a way to get junior financing. And a priming fight makes no sense here given the impossibility of showing an equity cushion. So stop being an entitled little brat. There’s no obligation on anyone to cut you into the deal. And if you’re going to cry over spilled milk, take up your beef with Pimco and f*ck right off. Alternatively, you can subscribe to your pro rata portion of the DIP and enjoy all of the fees other than the backstop fee.”

The Judge was convinced that the above rationale constituted good business judgment and approved the DIP on an interim basis.

The hearing also foreshadowed another contentious issue in the case: the myTheresa situation. See, the Debtors’ position is the following: “The ‘17 MyTheresa designation as unrestricted subs + the ‘18 distribution of the myTheresa operating companies to non-debtor Neiman Marcus Group Inc. (a/k/a the “asset stripping” transaction) + a ‘19 wholesale amend-and-extend + cost-saving initiatives + comparable same store sales growth for 7 of 10 quarters + “significantly expanded margins” during the holiday period = rocket ship future growth but for the damn pandemic. On the flip side, Marble Ridge Capital LP takes the position that:

…the Debtors’ financial troubles were entirely foreseeable well before recent events. The Company has operated at leverage multiples more than twice its peers since at least 2018 (prior to the fraudulent transfers described herein). And last year’s debt restructuring increased the Company’s already unsustainable annual interest expense by more than $100 million while only reducing the Company’s debt load by $250 million leaving a fraction of adjusted EBITDA for any capital expenditures, principal repayment, taxes or one-time charges. Sadly, the Debtors’ financial distress will come as no surprise to anyone.

This ain’t gonna be pretty. Marble Ridge has already had one suit for fraudulent transfer dismissed with prejudice at the pleading stage. Now there are defamation and other claims AGAINST Marble Ridge outstanding. And subsequent suits in the NY Supreme Court. Have no fear, though, folks. There are independent managers in the mix now to perform an “independent” investigation into these transactions.

The debtors intend to have a plan on file by early June with confirmation in September. Until then, pop your popcorn folks. You can socially distance AND watch these fireworks.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Texas (Judge Jones)

  • Capital Structure: See above.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Anup Sathy, Chad Husnick, Matthew Fagen, Austin Klar, Gregory Hesse, Dan Latona, Gavin Campbell, Gary Kavarsky, Mark McKane, Jeffrey Goldfine, Josh Greenblatt, Maya Ben Meir) & Jackson Walker LLP (Matthew Cavenaugh, Jennifer Wertz, Kristhy Peguero, Veronica Polnick)

    • Independent Managers of NMG LTD LLC: Marc Beilinson, Scott Vogel

      • Legal: Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (Brian Lennon, Todd Cosenza, Jennifer Hardy, Joseph Davis, Alexander Cheney)

      • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal LLC (Dennis Stogsdill)

    • Independent Manager of Mariposa Intermediate Holdings LLC: Anthony Horton

      • Legal: Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

    • Neiman Marcus Inc.

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Jeffrey Bjork)

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: Berkeley Research Group LLC (Mark Weinstein, Kyle Richter, Marissa Light)

    • Investment Banker: Lazard Freres & Co. LLC (Tyler Cowan)

    • Claims Agent: Stretto (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Pre-petition ABL Agent: Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch

      • Legal: White & Case LLP (Scott Greissman, Andrew Zatz, Rashida Adams) & Gray Reed & McGraw LLP (Jason Brookner, Paul Moak, Lydia Webb)

    • FILO Agent: TPG Specialty Lending Inc.

      • Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (Adam Harris, Abbey Walsh, G. Scott Leonard) & Jones Walker LLP (Joseph Bain)

    • Pre-petition Term Loan Agent: Credit Suisse AG Cayman Islands Branch

      • Legal: Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP (Paul Zumbro, George Zobitz, Christopher Kelly) & Haynes and Boone LLP (Charles Beckham, Martha Wyrick)

    • Second Lien Note Agent: Ankura Trust Company LLC

    • Third Lien Note Agent: Wilmington Trust NA

    • Unsecured Notes Indenture Trustee: UMB Bank NA

      • Legal: Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (Douglas Mannal, Rachael Ringer)

    • 2028 Debentures Agent: Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

    • Ad Hoc Term Loan Lender Group (Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, Sixth Street Partners LLC)

      • Legal: Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (Joshua Feltman, Emil Kleinhaus) & Vinson & Elkins LLP (Harry Perrin, Kiran Vakamudi, Paul Heath, Matthew Moran, Katherine Drell Grissel)

      • Financial Advisor: Ducera Partners LLC

    • Ad Hoc Secured Noteholder Committee

      • Legal: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP (Andrew Rosenberg, Alice Belisle Eaton, Claudia Tobler, Diane Meyers, Neal Donnelly, Patricia Walsh, Jeffrey Recher) & Porter Hedges LLP (John Higgins, Eric English, M. Shane Johnson)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc.

    • Large Creditor: Chanel Inc.

      • Legal: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP (Justin Bernbrock, Michael Driscoll)

    • Large Creditor: Louis Vuitton USA Inc.

      • Legal: Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP (Nathan Rugg)

    • Large Creditor: Moncler USA Inc.

      • Legal: Morrison Cohen LLP (Joseph Moldovan, David Kozlowski)

    • Marble Ridge Capital LP & Marble Ridge Master Fund LP

      • Legal: Brown Rudnick LLP (Edward Weisfelner, Sigmund Wissner-Gross, Jessica Meyers, Uchechi Egeonuigwe)

    • Mudrick Capital Management LP

      • Legal: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Michael Rosenthal, Mitchell Karlan, David Feldman, Keith Martorana, Jonathan Fortney)

    • Sponsor: CPP Investment Board USRE Inc.

      • Legal: Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (Jasmine Ball, Erica Weisgerber) & Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (Hugh Ray, William Hotze, Jason Sharp)

    • Sponsor: Ares Capital Management

      • Legal: Milbank LLP (Dennis Dunne, Thomas Kreller)

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors

      • Legal: Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP (Richard Pachulski) & Cole Schotz PC (Daniel Rosenberg)

      • Financial Advisor: M-III Advisory Partners LP (Mohsin Meghji)

      • Valuation Expert: The Michel-Shaked Group (Israel Shaked)

🍸New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - BL Restaurants Holding LLC (Bar Louie)🍸

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BL Restaurants Holding LLC

January 27, 2020

Another day, another Sun Capital Partners’ portfolio company* in bankruptcy. Texas-based BL Restaurants Holding LLC — known to most as Bar Louie — and 3 affiliated entities filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. Bar Louie is a gastrobar concept that operates 110 owned locations plus 24 franchises across 26 states and the District of Columbia. In 2019, it did $252mm of sales, down 3.7% YOY.

We hate to feed into the private-equity-destroys-everything-it-touches-trope but, well, judge for yourself…

The company notes:

Over the past several years, the opening of new locations was the primary driver for sales and profit growth for the Company. This growth was partially funded through new debt, but also utilized cash flow from operations, which ultimately over time restricted liquidity otherwise needed for store refreshes and equipment maintenance and modernization, resulting in inconsistent delivery of the brand promise across the system. This inconsistent brand experience, coupled with increased competition and the general decline in customer traffic visiting traditional shopping locations and malls, resulted in less traffic at the Company’s locations proximate to shopping locations and malls and contributed to sales falling short of forecast. These customer declines were also driven by major changes in consumer behavior, including the general national trend away from casual dining. The combination of these factors had a particularly major impact on a significant segment of the Company’s footprint.

Indeed, all of that growth — coupled with disruptive trends confronting both malls and casual dining — took its toll. Indeed, 38 locations, in particular, really saddled the company. Apparently it’s a bad sign when a third of your footprint has negative same store sale comps of 10.9%. 😬 This brought down the rest of the enterprise (which “only experienced a 1.4% SSS decline.”). Only. The debtors closed the aforementioned 38 locations pre-filing.

What of the debt? The company has $87mm of funded debt, $8mm of trade debt and approximately $6mm of other unsecured debt excluding lease termination claims. Things aren’t looking so great for the trade. The pre-petition lenders have agreed to place a $22mm DIP.

So now the debtors will use that DIP to give themselves time to attempt a sale in bankruptcy. The debtors’ first lien secured lenders and the pre-petition first lien secured agent will serve as a stalking horse via a credit bid. They are owed approximately $56.4mm. Pursuant to the sale motion filed with the court, they seek a 3% breakup fee in connection with the agreement to be the stalking horse which, if you asked us, seems a bit ridiculous under the circumstances. Why do they need a breakup fee at all when they’re trying to shed this turd? Do they really want to own this business? A multi-month pre-petition marketing campaign would seem to indicate otherwise. This reeks of greed and ought to spark an objection from creditors who will be hoping there’s some buyer who comes out of the wood work and overbids for this thing.

We wouldn’t bet on it.

*The debtors’ first day declaration only refers to its private equity sponsors as “its current owners”. While it’s not entirely clear from the bankruptcy papers, it appears that Sun Capital may also be the second lien lender agent here (and lenders) — a presumption that is bolstered by the appearance of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP as counsel. Morgan Lewis has represented Sun Capital portfolio companies in a number of recent chapter 11 bankruptcy filings. Curious how, with one exception, there was virtually no mention of Sun Capital’s involvement in any of the papers.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Walrath)

  • Capital Structure: $42mm Term Loan + $14.4mm RCF (Antares Capital LP), $23.6mm second lien debt (BL Restaurants Group Holding Corp.)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP (Domenic Pacitti, Michael Yurkewicz)

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC (Howard Meitiner)

    • Investment Banker: Configure Partners LLC (Vin Batra)

    • Claims Agent: Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition First Lien Secured Agent and DIP Agent: Antares Capital LP

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (James Ktsanes, Jeremy Webb) & Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Michael Nestor, Andrew Magaziner)

    • DIP Lenders: Midcap Funding XVI Trust, Midcap Funding XXX Trust, Midcap Financial Trust, Woodmont 2017-2 Trust, Woodmont 2017-3 LP, Woodmont 2018-4 Trust

    • Prepetition Second Lien Agent:

      • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Barbara Shander)

    • Purchaser: BLH Acquisition Co., LLC

New Chapter 11 Filing - Paddock Enterprises LLC

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Paddock Enterprises LLC

January 6, 2020

Ohio-based Paddock Enterprises LLC (aka Owens-Illinois Inc.) is the latest victim of asbestos-related liabilities to find itself in bankruptcy court. And by “latest” we mean the first in, like, a few days. Just last week, another Ohio-based manufacturer, ON Marine Services Company LLC, filed for bankruptcy after having had enough of dealing with decades-worth of claims within the tort system. ON filed for bankruptcy to address 6,000 claims emanating out of the 70s; Paddock filed for bankruptcy because its alternative to the tort system — “administrative claims agreements” — became increasingly untenable and it must still address 900 claims stemming from the 40s and 50s. That’s right, the 40s and 50s!! The purpose of filing for bankruptcy is to establish a 524(g) trust to deal with current and future asbestos claimants.

This case seems rather straight-forward and so we’ll spare you the long summary. In a nutshell, if a company at one time manufactured product with asbestos, it is generally f*cked. But there is an interesting commentary herein about these types of lawsuits and why bankruptcy is warranted. In the context of discussing its reserve coverage of asbestos-related tort expenditures ($722mm!), the company notes:

The Debtor believes that, although the established reserves are appropriate under ASC 450, its ultimate asbestos-related tort expenditures cannot be known with certainty because, among other reasons, the litigation environment in the tort system has deteriorated generally for mass tort defendants and Administrative Claims Agreements are becoming less reliable.

It gets better (PETITION Note: this is a long but worth-it passage):

What is certain is the incredible disparity between what the Debtor has historically paid, and is now being asked to pay, for Asbestos Claims, given the extent of its historical asbestosrelated operations. As of September 30, 2019, the Debtor had disposed of over 400,000 Asbestos Claims, and had incurred gross expense of approximately $5 billion for asbestos-related costs. In contrast, its total Kaylo sales for the 10-year period in which it sold the product were approximately $40 million. Asbestos-related cash payments for 2018, 2017, and 2016 alone were $105 million, $110 million, and $125 million, respectively. Although these cash payments show a modest decline, the overall volume and claimed value of Asbestos Claims asserted against the Debtor has not declined in proportion to the facts that (i) over 60 years have passed since the Debtor exited the Kaylo business, (ii) the average age of the vast majority of its claimants is now over 83 years old, (iii) these demographics produce increasingly limited opportunities to demonstrate legitimate occupational Kaylo exposures, and (iv) other recoveries are available from trusts established by other asbestos defendants. Rather, increasing settlement values have been demanded of the Debtor. And because the Debtor has settled or otherwise exhausted all insurance that might cover Asbestos Claims, it must satisfy all asbestos-related expenses out of Company cash flows.

Oh man. You’ve gotta love the plaintiff’s Bar. Those numbers are staggering. $40mm in 1940-1950 dollars would be equal to approximately $565mm in 2018 dollars. As compared to $5b in liability. And more to come. SHEEEESH. (PETITION Note: none of the foregoing is intended to disrespect any of the victims of the debtor’s product. Yes, we feel obligated to say that.)

There’s also a structural issue: the debtor entity subject to these extensive liabilities was incorporated in December 2019 as a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of O-I Glass Inc. ($OI), a $2b market cap glass container manufacturer. This is the classic “good company,” “bad company” structural separation. We suspect there’ll be at least some fireworks in bankruptcy court over this structure as creditors — almost exclusively the plaintiffs’ law firms — try to broaden the pool of potential proceeds from which they can recover monies for their clients.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Silverstein)

  • Capital Structure:

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Jeffrey Bjork, Christina Craige, Jeffrey Mispagel, Helena Tseregounis, Michael Faris, Lisa Lansio) & Richards Layton & Finger PA (John Knight, Michael Merchant)

    • Board of Directors: Kevin Collins, John Reynolds, Scott Gedris

    • Estimation Agent: Bates White LLC

    • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal LLC

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • O-I Glass Inc.

      • Legal: Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP (Derek Abbott, Joseph Halsey)

    • Future Claims Representative: James Patton Jr.

      • Legal: Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP

      • Claims Analyst: Ankura Consulting Group LLC

💊New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Sienna Pharmaceuticals Inc. ($SNNA)💊

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Sienna Pharmaceuticals Inc.

September 16, 2019

If you’re tired of distressed retail and oil & gas companies, the good news is that the biopharma space has been mixing things up. Sienna Pharmaceuticals ($SNNA), a California-based clinical-stage biopharma and medical device company filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. It develops multiple products aimed at chronic inflammatory skin diseases (e.g., psoriasis) and aesthetic conditions (e.g., unwanted hair and acne). The company is at the stage that those in the tech world would designate “pre-revenue.”

And that is precisely the problem. Much like distressed oil and gas companies, distressed biopharma companies are capital intensive (a $184.1mm accumulated deficit) and tend to succumb to the weight of their long-duration development cycle. In this case, the company “has relied on equity issuances, debt offerings, and term loans” to fund development and operations. It has also leveraged its equity as a currency, engaging in strategic acquisitions that enhance its product portfolio; it, for instance, entered into a share purchase agreement in late ‘16 with Creabilis plc. This added one more product that, at this juncture, the company cannot advance due to liquidity issues. Womp womp.

The company has, over the course of time, been indebted to its pre-petition secured lender, Silicon Valley Bank, in the range of $10-30mm. On September 15th, for instance, the company owed SVB over $30mm. In exchange, however, for the use consensual use of cash collateral, the company made a $21.3mm payment to SVB on September 16th, the day before the bankruptcy filing. That’s what you call leverage, folks. SVB’s loan is secured by a laundry list of debtor assets though it is technically not secured by the company’s extensive trove of intellectual property (~250 patents). That IP, however, is subject to what’s called a “negative pledge,” a provision that prevents the company from pledging the IP on account of the fact that SVB’s security interest includes “rights to payment and proceeds from the sale, licensing, or disposition of all or any part of the Intellectual Property.” It’s a wee bit hard to enforce a security interest in IP if someone else has a right to the payments streams emanating therefrom (not that this company has any revenue streams, but you get the idea).

Why bankruptcy? For starters, the company is subject to a “minimum cash covenant” under its SVB facility and liquidity dipped below the minimum. Due to the company’s declining stock price, the company lost access to the equity market. Finally, the company has lingering financial commitments from the Creabilis deal. For all of these reasons, the company simply doesn’t have the liquidity needed to fund the next stages of product development which, in turn, would get the company closer to revenue generation. Chicken. Meet egg.

As is the overwhelming norm these days, the company now seeks to use the bankruptcy process to pursue a sale. As of the filing, no stalking horse purchaser is teed up but the company is “confident” that its banker, Cowen & Co. ($COWN), will locate one that will enable the company to emerge from bankruptcy as a going concern. No pressure, Cowen.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge TBD)

  • Capital Structure: $10mm secured debt (SVB)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Peter Gilhuly, Ted Dillman, Shawn Hansen) & Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Michael Nestor, Kara Hammond Coyle)

    • Financial Advisor: Force 10 Partners (Jeremy Rosenthal)

    • Investment Banker: Cowen and Company LLC (Lorie Beers)

    • Claims Agent: Epiq Corporate Restructuring LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition Lender: Silicon Valley Bank

      • Legal: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP (Ori Katz, Michael Driscoll) and Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP (Jennifer Hoover, Kevin Capuzzi)

    • Major shareholders: ARCH Venture Partners VIII LLC, Partner Fund Management LP, FMR LLC (aka Fidelity)

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (Therapeutics Inc., Johnson Matthey Inc., MedPharm Ltd.)

      • Legal: Foley & Lardner LLP (Richard Bernard, Alissa Nann) & Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP (Christopher Samis, L. Katherine Good, D. Ryan Slaugh)

      • Financial Advisor: Emerald Capital Advisors (John Madden)

Update: 10/25/19 #140

⛽️New Chapter 11 Filing - Alta Mesa Resources Inc. ($AMR)⛽️

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Alta Mesa Resources Inc.

September 11, 2019

Man. We nailed this one. Once Alta Mesa Holdings LP’s borrowing base got redetermined down, it was f*cked.*

As we’ve previously covered, Alta Mesa Resources Inc. is an independent oil and nat gas exploration and production company focused on the Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher County (otherwise known as the “STACK”) in Oklahoma. It has an upstream business and, through a non-debtor entity it is now suing in an adversary proceeding (Kingfisher Midstream LLC), a midstream business.

The fact that another oil and gas company is now in bankruptcy** is, frankly, fairly uninteresting: the debtors blame the usual factors for their demise. Depressed oil prices ✅. Over-leverage (here, a $368mm RBL and $509mm in unsecured notes)✅. Liquidity constraints✅. We’ve now seen these story — and those factors — several dozen times this year alone. Like many of its oil and gas predecessors, these debtors, too, will explore a “value-maximizing sale of all or substantially all of the [d]ebtors’ assets” while also looking at a restructuring along with non-debtor affiliates. Par for the course.

What’s most interesting to us on this one — and relatively rare in bankruptcy — is the fact that the company emanated out of a “special purpose acquisition company or “SPAC” for short (these are also known as “blank check” companies). For the uninitiated, SPACs are generally shady-as-sh*t investment vehicles with pseudo-private-equity-like characteristics (including the enrichment of the sponsors) that are offered via IPO to idiot public equity investors who are enamored with putting money behind allegedly successful founders/investors. They have a long and sordid history but, as you might imagine in frothy AF markets like the one we’re currently experiencing, they tend to rise in popularity when people have lots of money to put to work and limited avenues for yield baby yield. According to this “SPAC 101” presentation by the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP, “[i]n 2017, there were 32 SPAC IPOs raising a total of $8.7 billion, the highest total since 2007.” That number rose above $10b in 2018. Some recent prominent examples of SPACs include: (a) the proposed-but-called-off combination of SPAC Leo Holdings Corp. ($LHC) with Chuck E. Cheese, (b) Chamath Palihapitiya’s investment in Richard Branson’s Virgin Galacticspace initiative via his $600mm spac, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp ($IPOA), and (c) something closer to home for distressed players, Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation ($MUDS.U), founded by Jason Mudrick. The latter, despite being 18 month post-close, has yet to deploy its capital (which is notable because, typically, SPACs have a two-year life span before capital must be returned to investors).

In late 2016, Riverstone Investment Group LLC formed its SPAC and commenced an IPO in Q1 ‘17. The IPO generated proceeds of over $1b. These proceeds were placed in a trust account — standard for SPACs — and ultimately used to partially fund the “business combination” that started the sh*tshow that we all now know as Alta Mesa. That transaction closed in February 2018. Public shareholders were now in the mix.

So, how did that work out for them? Well, here we are:

So, yeah. Add this one to the list of failed SPACs. The lawyers sure have: AMR, certain of its current and former directors, Riverstone Investment Group LLC and Riverstone Holdings LLC were named defendants in securities class action lawsuits in both United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the Southern District of Texas that allege that the defendants “disseminated proxy materials containing materially false or misleading statements in connection with the Business Combination….” The debtors are obviously calling these claims “meritless.”

So, there you have it folks. An inauspicious start has brought us to a suspect penultimate chapter. There is no purchaser in tow, no clear direction for the bankruptcy proceeding, and an adversary proceeding that faces some recent unfavorable precedent (albeit in a different, less favorable, jurisdiction).

We can’t wait to see where this flaming hot mess goes from here.

*We wrote:

PETITION Note: Ruh roh. Just like that, the lenders have put the squeeze on AMH. AMH meet world of hurt. World of hurt, meet AMH.

“As provided under the Alta Mesa RBL, AMH will elect to repay the excess utilization in 5 equal monthly installments of $32.5 million, the first of which will be due in September 2019. As of July 31, 2019, AMH had cash on hand of approximately $79.7 million.”

PETITION Note: HAHAHAHAHA, yeah, sure it will. And we have a bridge to sell you.

Re-engage the bankruptcy countdown. Maybe…MAYBE…some crazy macroeconomic shock will occur and oil prices will shoot up to $1900/barrel. Like, maybe a meteor strikes Earth and annihilates Saudi Arabia, completely wiping it off the map. In that scenario, yeah, sure, AMH is copacetic. 

Interestingly, as we write this, Yemeni Houthi rebels are taking credit for a drone attack that has shut down half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output. Per the WSJ:

The production shutdown amounts to a loss of about five million barrels a day, the people said, roughly 5% of the world’s daily production of crude oil. The kingdom produces 9.8 million barrels a day.

Meteors. Drones. Let’s not split hairs.

**10% of the top 30 creditors features energy companies with prior BK experience including greatest hits like Chaparral Energy LLC, Weatherford US LP (another recent Latham client), and Basic Energy Services LP.


  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Texas (Judge Isgur)

  • Capital Structure: $368mm RBL (Wells Fargo Bank NA), $509mm 7.785% unsecured notes (US Bank NA)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Caroline Reckler, Annemarie Reilly, Brett Neve, Andrew Sorkin) & Porter Hedges LLP (John F. Higgins IV, Eric English, Aaron Power, M. Shane Johnson)

    • Board of Directors: James Hackett (Riverstone), Pierre Lapeyre Jr. (Riverstone), David Leuschen (Riverstone), Donald Dimitrievich (HPS), William McCullen, Sylvia Kerrigan, Donald Sinclair, Jeffrey Tepper, Diana Walters, Patrick Bartels, Marc Beilinson)

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: AlixPartners LLP (Robert Albergotti)

    • Investment Banker: Perella Weinberg Partners (Kevin Cofsky)

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Ad Hoc Noteholder Group (Bain Capital Credit LP, Firefly Value Partners LP, Leroy DH LP, PGIM Inc., PPM America Inc.)

      • Legal: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (Damian Schaible, Angela Libby, Stephanie Massman & (local) Rapp & Krock PC (Henry Flores, Kenneth Krock)

    • Issuing Lender: Wells Fargo Bank NA

      • Legal: Bracewell LLP (William A. Wood III, Jason G. Cohen)

    • Unsecured Note Indenture Trustee: US Bank NA

      • Legal: Blank Rome LLP (Ira Herman, James Grogan)

    • Creditor: Kingfisher Midstream LLC

      • Legal: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP (Susheel Kirpalani, Patrica Tomasco, Devin va der Hahn)

    • Equity Sponsors: Riverstone Investment Group LLC/HPS Investment Partners LLC

      • Legal: Vinson & Elkins LLP (David Meyer, Michael Garza, Harry Perrin)

    • Equity Sponsor: Bayou City Energy Management LLC

      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Joshua Sussberg, Gregory Pesce, Anna Rotman)

    • Equity Sponsors: Orbis Investment Management Limited, High Mesa Holdings LP,

⛽️New Chapter 11 Filing - Weatherford International Plc⛽️

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Weatherford International Plc

July 1, 2019

There hasn’t been a MASSIVE bankruptcy filing in a while. Windstream Holdings Inc. filed back in late February and while there’s been plenty of chapter 11 activity since, there hasn’t been anything quite as large in the last several months. There is now. Enter Weatherford International Plc.

Late on Friday, Weatherford, an Irish public limited company, filed an 8-K with the SEC with a proposed plan of reorganization and disclosure statement; it and several affiliated debtors intend to file prepackaged chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of Texas on Monday, July 1.* The timing is appropriate: nothing screams “Independence!” like a massive chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that has the effect of eliminating six billion tyrannical dollars from the balance sheet. YEE HAW. G-D BLESS AMERICA.

Here is a snapshot of Weatherford’s pre and post-bankruptcy capital structure:**

Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 5.15.48 AM.png

And all of the action is at the pre-petition notes level of the cap stack.*** The holders of the $7.4b of pre-petition notes**** will walk away with 99% of the equity in the reorganized company (subject to various means of dilution) — a 63% recovery based on the offered valuation of the company. They will also receive up to $1.25b of new tranche b senior unsecured convertible notes and the right to participate in new tranche a senior unsecured notes. Every other class — but for existing equity (which will get wiped out) — will ride through as if this shabang ain’t even happening.

You must be wondering: how in bloody hell does a company rack up over $8b of debt? $8 BILLION!! That’s just oil and gas, darling.

Weatherford is a provider of equipment and services used in the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells; it operates in over 80 countries worldwide and has service and sales locations in nearly all of the oil and natural gas producing regions in the world. It operates in a highly commoditized industry and so the company dedicates millions each year to research and development in an effort to separate itself from the pack and provide value to end users that is unmatched in the market.

Which, by its own admission, it fails to do. All of that R&D notwithstanding, Weatherford nevertheless provide a commoditized product in a tough macro environment. And while all of that debt should have helped position the company to crush less-capitalized competitors, it ultimately proved to be an albatross.

To service this debt, the debtors require stability in the oil and natural gas markets at prices that catalyze E&P companies to drill, baby, drill. An oil field services company like Weatherford can only make money if there are oil operations to service. With oil and natural gas trading at low levels for years…well, you see the issue. Per the company’s 8-K:

The sustained drop in oil and gas prices has impacted companies throughout the oil and gas industry including Weatherford and the majority of its customers. As spending on exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas has decreased so has demand for Weatherford’s services and products. The decline in spending by oil and gas companies has had a significant effect on the Debtors’ financial health. To illustrate, on a consolidated basis, the Company’s cash flows from operating activities have been negative $304 million, negative $388 million, and negative $242 million in fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.

While not quite at Uber Inc. ($UBER) levels, this company is practically lighting money on fire.

Relating to the competition:

The oilfield services and equipment industry is saturated with competition from various companies that operate in the same sector and the same regions of the world as Weatherford. The primary competitive factors include safety, performance, price, quality, and breadth of products and services. Weatherford also faces competition from regional suppliers in some of the sectors in which it operates as these suppliers offer limited equipment and services that are specifically tailored to the relevant local market. Some of the Company’s competitors have better financial and technical resources, which allows them to pursue more vigorous marketing and expansion activities. This heavily competitive market has impacted the Company’s ability to maintain its market share and defend or maintain the pricing for its products and services. Heavy competition has also impacted the Company’s ability to negotiate contract terms with its customers and suppliers, which has resulted in the Company accepting suboptimal terms.

The squeeze is on, ladies and gentlemen. As E&P companies look to cut costs in the face of increased pressure from investors to lean out, they are putting companies like Weatherford through the ringer. You bet your a$$ they’re getting “suboptimal terms.”

Compounding matters, of course, is the government:

…operations are also subject to extensive federal, international, state and local laws and regulations relating to environmental production, waste management and cleanup of hazardous materials, and other matters. Compliance with the various requirements imposed by these laws and regulations has also resulted in increased capital expenditures as companies in these sectors have had to make significant investments to ensure compliance.

Well GOSH DARN. If only Weatherford had unfettered ability to pollute the hell out of the countryside and our waters all of that debt could be paid off at par plus. Those gosh darn government hacks.

All of these factors combined to strain the debtors’ liquidity “for an extended period of time.” Accordingly, the company went into cost cutting mode.***** In Q4 ‘17, it eliminated 900 jobs to the tune of $114mm in annualized savings. In 2018, the company — with the assistance of McKinsey Restructuring & Transformation Services — continued with workforce reductions, facility consolidations, and other measures.

Yet, the squeeze continued. Per the company:

Despite implementing these efficient and strategic initiatives, the Company continued to face declining revenue and cash flow, as well as market challenges. Due to the Company’s increasingly tight liquidity, its key vendors began requiring shortened payment terms, including pay on delivery or prepayment for all supplies purchased by the Company. This contributed to additional pressure on liquidity that the Company could not sustain. Additionally, as discussed above, the highly competitive market that the Company operates in posed challenges for the Company in winning new bids, resulting in decreased revenue.

Weatherford was therefore forced to divest assets. YOU KNOW YOU’RE LEVERAGED TO THE HILT WHEN YOU SELL NEARLY $1B OF ASSETS AND IT BARELY MOVES THE NEEDLE. Sale proceeds were coming in just to go back out for debt service. The company had a leverage ratio of OVER 10X EBITDA. THIS IS AN UNMITIGATED F*CKING DISASTER. What’s actually astonishing is that the company notes that it retained Lazard Freres & Co LLC ($LZ) and Latham & Watkins LLP in December ‘18 and April ‘19, respectively. Taking them at their word (and we could have sworn Latham was in there much earlier than April), WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY WAITING FOR? $600mm of annual interest payments, pending maturities, untenable leverage relative to competitors, AND squeezing vendors and the company only got its sh*t together in April? They couldn’t possibly have been THAT inept. Ah, who are we kidding? We’re talking about bankruptcy here.

Now, though, the company has a deal****** and so the upshot is that it is well-positioned for a quick trip into bankruptcy. Indeed, it seeks plan confirmation no later than September 15, 2019 — a nice not-as-speedy-as-other-recent-prepacks-but-speedy prepack. To finance the cases, the company will seek approval of up to $750mm DIP revolver and a $1b DIP term loan. And it is optimistic that it will be well-positioned for the future:

Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 10.53.10 AM.png

We’ll see.

*The company will also push through Bermuda and Irish proceedings.

**JPMorgan Chase Bank NA ($JPM) is the agent on the prepetition term loan, the prepetition revolving credit agreement, and the A&R facility.

***Only three entities out of an organizational structure of 255 or so direct and indirect subsidiaries are on the hook for the prepetition notes, thereby limiting the number of actual debtor entities that will be subsumed by these cases.

****The pre-petition notes consist of 13 — yes, THIRTEEN — different issuances of notes with interest rates ranging from 4.5% to 9.875% and maturities ranging from 2020 through 2042.

*****Well, as it relates to certain peeps, of course. The debtors’ non-debtor affiliates still had money to make a May 2019 payout to participants in the Executive Bonus Plan.

******The ad hoc noteholder committee is represented by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Evercore Group LLC ($EVR).

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Texas (Judge )

  • Capital Structure:

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Keith Simon, David Hammerman, Annemarie Reilly, Lisa Lansio) & (local) Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (Timothy Davidson, Ashley Harper)

    • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal LLC

    • Investment Banker: Lazard Freres & Co LLC

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Ad Hoc Prepetition Noteholder Committee

      • Legal: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Michael Stamer, Meredith Lahaie, Kate Doorley)

      • Financial Advisor: Evercore Group LLC

    • DIP Agent: Citibank NA

      • Legal: Shearman & Sterling LLP (Frederic Sosnick, Ned Schodek, Sara Coelho, Ian Roberts)

🏠New Chapter 11 Filing - Monitronics International Inc.🏠

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Monitronics International inc.

June 30, 2019

We wrote about Monitronics International Inc. in July 2018 in "😬Home Security Company Looks Vulnerable 😬,” noting that “home security is a tough business (short Ascent Capital Group).” And, by “tough” we meant uber-competitive and saturated. It doesn’t help when you’re levered like a boss. We recommend you read the link above to understand the challenges these businesses faced in a better way than that described in the bankruptcy papers.

That said, the debtors’ capital structure is an important element of this story; they carry:

  • $181.4mm ‘21 Revolving Credit Facility

  • $1.072b ‘22 Term Loan

  • $585mm ‘20 9.125% Senior Notes

Leverage + disruption = a recipe for disaster. This prepackaged bankruptcy filing is meant to address the former. Management will be on the clock to figure out the latter. A significantly deleveraged capital structure and a cash infusion will certainly help.

The debtors’ proposed prepackaged plan of reorganization will eliminate approximately $885mm of funded debt by way of equitizing the entirety of the senior notes, and reducing the revolving credit facility (by $50mm) and the amount of term loans (by $250mm). The term lenders will receive $150mm in cash (financed by a rights offering totaling $177mm) and equitize $100mm worth of their loans. The remainder of the term loan amount will be exchanged for take back paper issued by the reorganized debtors.

Source: First Day Declaration ($ in millions)

Source: First Day Declaration ($ in millions)

This is what the capital structure will look like pre and post-transaction:

Source: First Day Declaration ($ in millions)

Source: First Day Declaration ($ in millions)

The senior unsecured notes are fully exchanged for 18% of pre-diluted equity in the reorganized debtors.

The overall structure of the transaction is complex and depends upon some contingencies. This is the summary the debtors provided:

It might as well be gibberish at this point. Once we know whether Ascent toggle occurs we’ll have a better sense of who is contributing what. Moreover, once we the rights offering is consummated, the debtors’ new ownership will be more obvious.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Texas (Judge Jones)

  • Capital Structure: See above.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (David Hammerman, Annemarie Reilly, Jeremy Mispagel, Liza Burton, Brian Rosen, Christopher Harris, Zachary Proulx) & King & Spalding LLP (Roger Schwartz, Sarah Primrose) & (local) Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (Timothy Davidson, Ashley Harper)

    • Board of Directors: Jeffery Gardner, William Niles, Marc Beilinson, Sherman Edmiston III

    • Financial Advisor: FTI Consulting Inc.

    • Investment Banker: Moelis & Company LLC

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Ad Hoc Lender Group (Term B-2 Lenders)(Anchorage Capital Group LLC, Boston Management and Research, BlueMountain Capital Management LLC, Eaton Vance Management, FS Global Advisor LLC, Invesco Advisors Inc., KKR Credit Advisors US LLC, Monarch Alternative Capital LP)

      • Legal: Jones Day (Paul Green, Scott Greenberg, Michael Schneidereit, Peter Saba)

      • Financial Advisor: Evecore LLC

    • Ad Hoc Group of Noteholders

      • Legal: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP (Kristohper Hansen, Sayan Bhattacharyya, Jason Pierce) & (local) Haynes and Boone LLP (Kelli Norfleet, Stephen Pezanosky)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc.

    • KKR Credit Advisors US LLC

      • Legal: Proskauer Rose LLP (Chris Theodoridis)

    • Administrative Agent under Pre-Petition Credit Agreement: Bank of America NA

      • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Amelia Joiner) & ( Local) Winstead PC (Sean Davis)

    • Pre-Petition Agent: Cortland Capital Markets Services LLC

      • Legal: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (Christopher Odell, Hannah Sibiski, D. Tyler Nurnberg, Sarah Gryll)

    • Ascent Capital Group

      • Legal: Baker Botts LLP

⛽️New Chapter 11 Filing - Legacy Reserves Inc.⛽️

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Legacy Reserves Inc.

June 18, 2019

Even at 95 years old, you can’t get one past Charlie Munger. #Legend.

The Permian Basin in West Texas is where it’s at in the world of oil and gas exploration and production. Per Wikipedia:

As of 2018, the Permian Basin has produced more than 33 billion barrels of oil, along with 118 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This production accounts for 20% of US crude oil production and 7% of US dry natural gas production. While the production was thought to have peaked in the early 1970s, new technologies for oil extraction, such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have increased production dramatically. Estimates from the Energy Information Administration have predicted that proven reserves in the Permian Basin still hold 5 billion barrels of oil and approximately 19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

oil gushing.gif

And it may be even more prolific than originally thought. Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy recently issued a report indicating that Permian projected output was already above 4.5mm barrels a day in May with volumes exceeding 5mm barrels in June. This staggering level of production is pushing total U.S. oil production to approximately 12.5mm barrels per day in May. That means the Permian now accounts for 36% of US crude oil production — a significant increase over 2018. Normalized across 365 days, that would be a 1.64 billion barrel run rate. This is despite (a) rigs coming offline in the Permian and (b) natural gas flaring and venting reaching all-time highs in Q1 ‘19 due to a lack of pipelines. Come again? That’s right. The Permian is producing in quantities larger than pipelines can accommodate. Per Reuters:

Producers burned or vented 661 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in the Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico, the field that has driven the U.S. to record oil production, according to a new report from Rystad Energy.

The Permian’s first-quarter flaring and venting level more than doubles the production of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico’s most productive gas facility, Royal Dutch Shell’s Mars-Ursa complex, which produces about 260 to 270 mmcfd of gas.

The Permian isn’t alone in this, however. The Bakken shale field in North Dakota is also flaring at a high level. More from Reuters:

Together, the two oil fields on a yearly basis are burning and venting more than the gas demand in countries that include Hungary, Israel, Azerbaijan, Colombia and Romania, according to the report.

All of which brings us to Legacy Reserves Inc. ($LGCY). Despite the midstream challenges, one could be forgiven for thinking that any operators engaged in E&P in the Permian might be insulated from commodity price declines and other macro headwinds. That position, however, would be wrong.

Legacy is a publicly-traded energy company engaged in the acquisition, development, production of oil and nat gas properties; its primary operations are in the Permian Basin (its largest operating region, historically), East Texas, and in the Rocky Mountain and Mid-Continent regions. While some of these basins may produce gobs of oil and gas, acquisition and production is nevertheless a HIGHLY capital intensive endeavor. And, here, like with many other E&P companies that have recently made their way into the bankruptcy bin, “significant capital” translates to “significant debt.”

Per the Company:

Like similar companies in this industry, the Company’s oil and natural gas operations, including their exploration, drilling, and production operations, are capital-intensive activities that require access to significant amounts of capital.  An oil price environment that has not recovered from the downturn seen in mid-2014 and the Company’s limited access to new capital have adversely affected the Company’s business. The Company further had liquidity constraints through borrowing base redeterminations under the Prepetition RBL Credit Agreement, as well as an inability to refinance or extend the maturity of the Prepetition RBL Credit Agreement beyond May 31, 2019.

This is the company’s capital structure:

Legacy Cap Stack.png

The company made two acquisitions in mid-2015 costing over $540mm. These acquisitions proved to be ill-timed given the longer-than-expected downturn in oil and gas. Per the Company:

In hindsight, despite the GP Board’s and management’s favorable view of the potential future opportunities afforded by these acquisitions and the high-caliber employees hired by the Company in connection therewith, these two acquisitions consumed disproportionately large amounts of the Company’s liquidity during a difficult industry period.

WHOOPS. It’s a good thing there were no public investors in this thing who were in it for the high yield and favorable tax treatment.*

Yet, the company was able to avoid a prior bankruptcy when various other E&P companies were falling like flies. Why was that? Insert the “drillco” structure here: the company entered into a development agreement with private equity firm TPG Special Situations Partners to drill, baby, drill (as opposed to acquire). What’s a drillco structure? Quite simply, the PE firm provided capital in return for a wellbore interest in the wells that it capitalized. Once TPG clears a specified IRR in relation to any specific well, any remaining proceeds revert to the operator. This structure — along with efforts to delever through out of court exchanges of debt — provided the company with much-needed runway during a rough macro patch.

It didn’t last, however. Liquidity continued to be a pervasive problem and it became abundantly clear that the company required a holistic solution to its balance sheet. That’s what this filing will achieve: this chapter 11 case is a financial restructuring backed by a Restructuring Support Agreement agreed to by nearly the entirety of the capital structure — down through the unsecured notes. Per the Company:

The Global RSA contemplates $256.3 million in backstopped equity commitments, $500.0 million in committed exit financing from the existing RBL Lenders, the equitization of approximately $815.8 million of prepetition debt, and payment in full of the Debtors’ general unsecured creditors.

Said another way, the Permian holds far too much promise for parties in interest to walk away from it without maintaining optionality for the future.

*Investors got burned multiple times along the way here. How did management do? Here is one view (view thread: it’s precious):

😬

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Texas (Judge Isgur)

  • Capital Structure: See above.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Sidley Austin LLP (Duston McFaul, Charles Persons, Michael Fishel, Maegan Quejada, James Conlan, Bojan Guzina, Andrew O’Neill, Allison Ross Stromberg)

    • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal LLC (Seth Bullock, Mark Rajcevich)

    • Investment Banker: Perella Weinberg Partners (Kevin Cofsky)

    • Claims Agent: KCC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (Wilmington Trust NA, Dalton Investments LLC, Paul Drueke, John Dinkel, Nicholas Mumford)

    • GSO Capital Partners LP

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Adam Goldberg, Christopher Harris, Zachary Proulx, Brett Neve, Julian Bulaon) & (local) Porter Hedges LLP (John Higgins, Eric English, M. Shane Johnson)

    • DIP Lender: Wells Fargo Bank NA

      • Legal: Orrick LLP (Raniero D’Aversa, Laura Metzger)

    • Prepetition Term Agent: Cortland Capital Market Services LLC

      • Legal: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (Gerardo Mijares-Shafai, Seth Kleinman)

    • Indenture Trustee: Wilmington Trust NA

      • Legal: Pryor Cashman (Seth Lieberman, Patrick Sibley, Andrew Richmond)

    • Ad Hoc Group of Senior Noteholders (Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund, J.H. Lane Partners Master Fund LP, JCG 2016 Holdings LP, The John C. Goff 2010 Family Trust, John C. Goff SEP-IRA, Cuerno Largo Partners LP, MGA insurance Company Inc., Pingora Partners LLC)

      • Legal: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (Brian Resnick, Stephen Piraino, Michael Pera) & (local) Rapp & Krock PC (Henry Flores)

Updated 7/7/19 #188

New Chapter 11 Filing - Hexion Holdings LLC

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Hexion Holdings LLC

April 1, 2019

What we appreciate that and, we hope thanks to PETITION, others will eventually come to appreciate, is that there is a lot to learn from the special corporate law, investment banking, advisory, and investing niche labeled “restructuring” and “distressed investing.” Here, Ohio-based Hexion Holdings LLC is a company that probably touches our lives in ways that most people have no knowledge of: it produces resins that “are key ingredients in a wide variety of industrial and consumer goods, where they are often employed as adhesives, as coatings and sealants, and as intermediates for other chemical applications.” These adhesives are used in wind turbines and particle board; their coatings prevent corrosion on bridges and buildings. You can imagine a scenario where, if Washington D.C. can ever get its act together and get an infrastructure bill done, Hexion will have a significant influx of revenue.

Not that revenue is an issue now. It generated $3.8b in 2018, churning out $440mm of EBITDA. And operational performance is on the upswing, having improved 21% YOY. So what’s the problem? In short, the balance sheet is a hot mess.* Per the company:

“…the Debtors face financial difficulties. Prior to the anticipated restructuring, the Debtors are over nine times levered relative to their 2018 adjusted EBITDA and face annual debt service in excess of $300 million. In addition, over $2 billion of the Debtors’ prepetition funded debt obligations mature in 2020. The resulting liquidity and refinancing pressures have created an unsustainable drag on the Debtors and, by extension, their Non-Debtor Affiliates, requiring a comprehensive solution.”

This is what that capital structure looks like:

Screen Shot 2019-04-01 at 12.28.48 PM.png
Screen Shot 2019-04-01 at 12.29.02 PM.png

(PETITION Note: if you’re wondering what the eff is a 1.5 lien note, well, welcome to the party pal. These notes are a construct of a frothy high-yield market and constructive readings of credit docs. They were issued in 2017 to discharge maturing notes. The holders thereof enjoy higher priority on collateral than the second lien notes and other junior creditors below, but slot in beneath the first lien notes).

Anyway, to remedy this issue, the company has entered into a support agreement “that enjoys the support of creditors holding a majority of the debt to be restructured, including majorities within every tier of the capital structure.” The agreement would reduce total funded debt by $2b by: (a) giving the first lien noteholders $1.45b in cash (less adequate protection payments reflecting interest on their loans), and 72.5% of new common stock and rights to participate in the rights offering at a significant discount to a total enterprise value of $3.1b; and (b) the 1.5 lien noteholders, the second lien noteholders and the unsecured noteholders 27.5% of the new common stock and rights to participate in the rights offering. The case will be funded by a $700mm DIP credit facility.

*Interestingly, Hexion is a derivative victim of the oil and gas downturn. In 2014, the company was selling resin coated sand to oil and gas businesses to the tune of 8% of sales and 28% of segment EBITDA. By 2016, segment EBITDA dropped by approximately $150mm, a sizable loss that couldn’t be offset by other business units.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Gross)

  • Capital Structure: See above.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Andrew Parlan, Hugh Murtagh, Caroline Reckler, Jason Gott, Lisa Lansio, Blake Denton, Andrew Sorkin, Christopher Harris) & (local) Richards Layton & Finger PA (Mark Collins, Michael Merchant, Amanda Steele, Brendan Schlauch)

    • Managers: Samuel Feinstein, William Joyce, Robert Kaslow-Ramos, George F. Knight III, Geoffrey Manna, Craig Rogerson, Marvin Schlanger, Lee Stewart

    • Financial Advisor: AlixPartners LLP

    • Investment Banker: Moelis & Company LLC (Zul Jamal)

    • Claims Agent: Omni Management Group (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Ad Hoc Group of First Lien Noteholders (Angelo Gordon & Co. LP, Aristeia Capital LLC, Barclays Bank PLC, Beach Point Capital Management LP, Capital Research and Management Company, Citadel Advisors LLC, Contrarian Capital Management LLC, Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, DoubleLine Capital LP, Eaton Vance Management, Federated Investment Counseling, GoldenTree Asset Management LP, Graham Capital Management LP, GSO Capital Partners LP, Heyman Enterprise LLC, Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management LLC, OSK VII LLC, Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, Silver Rock Financial LP, Sound Point Capital Management LP, Tor Asia Credit Master Fund LP, UBS Securities LLC, Whitebox Advisors LLC)

      • Legal: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Ira Dizengoff, Philip Dublin, Daniel Fisher, Naomi Moss, Abid Qureshi)

      • Financial Advisor: Evercore Group LLC

    • Ad Hoc Group of Crossover Noteholders (Aegon USA Investment Management LLC, Aurelius Capital Master Ltd., Avenue Capital Management II LP, Avenue Europe International Management, Benefit Street Partners LLC, Cyrus Capital Partners LP, KLS Diversified Asset Management LLC, Loomis Sayles & Company LP, Monarch Alternative Capital LP, New Generation Advisors LLC, P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LP)

      • Legal: Milbank LLP (Samuel Khalil, Matthew Brod)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc.

    • Ad Hoc Group of 1.5 Lien Noteholders

      • Legal: Jones Day (Sidney Levinson, Jeremy Evans)

    • Pre-petition RCF Agent & Post-petition DIP Agent ($350mm): JPMorgan Chase Bank NA

      • Legal: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

    • Trustee under the First Lien Notes: U.S. Bank NA

      • Legal: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP (James Carr, Kristin Elliott) & (local) Dorsey & Whitney LLP (Eric Lopez Schnabel, Alessandra Glorioso)

    • Trustee of 1.5 Lien Notes: Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

      • Legal: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

    • Trustee of Borden Indentures: The Bank of New York Mellon

    • Sponsor: Apollo

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; Agrium US, Inc.; The Bank of New York Mellon; Mitsubishi Gas Chemical America; PVS Chloralkali, Inc.; Southern Chemical Corporation; Wilmington Trust; Wilmington Savings Fund Society; and Blue Cube Operations LLC

      • Legal: Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (Kenneth Eckstein, Douglas Mannal, Rachael Ringer) & (local) Bayard PA (Scott Cousins, Erin Fay, Gregory Flasser)

      • Financial Advisor: FTI Consulting Inc. (Samuel Star)

Updated:

New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Imerys Talc America Inc.

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Imerys Talc America Inc.

February 13, 2019

Merely a week ago we wrote:

PG&E Corporation's ($PCG) recent liability-based bankruptcy filing got us thinking: what other companies are poised for a litigation-based chapter 11 bankruptcy filing? We think we have a winner. 

Imerys S.A. is a French multinational company that specializes in the production and processing of industrial minerals. Its North American operations are headquartered in Roswell, Georgia and in San Jose, California. Included among Imerys' North American operations is Imerys Talc America. The key word in all of the foregoing is "Talc." 

If only we had purchased a lottery ticket.

Within days, Imerys Talc America Inc. and two affiliated debtors indeed filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware. The debtors mine, process and distribute talc for use in end products used in the manufacturing of products sold by third-parties —- primarily Johnson & Johnson Inc. ($JNJ). The debtors have historically been the sole supplier of cosmetic talk to JNJ. And, in part, because of that, they’re getting sued to Kingdom Come. Approximately 14,650 individual claimants are suing the debtors alleging personal injuries caused by exposure to talc mined, processed or distributed by the debtors. The debtors note:

Although personal care/cosmetic sales make up only approximately 5% of the Debtors’ revenue, approximately 98.6% of the pending Talc Claims allege injuries based on use of cosmetic products containing talc.

Whoa. What a number!! What a disparity! Low revenues and yet high claims! What a sham! That just goes to show how absurd these claims are!!

Just kidding. That sentence means absolutely nothing: it is clearly an attempt by lawyers to ignorantly wow people with percentages that have absolutely no significance whatsoever. Who gives a sh*t whether personal care/cosmetic sales are only a small fraction of revenues? If those sales are all laced with toxic crap that are possibly causing people cancer or mesothelioma, the rest is just pixie dust. In fact, it’s possible that 100% of 1% of sales are causing cancer, is it not?

Anyway, naturally, the debtors deny those claims but defending the claims, of course, comes at a huge cost. Per the Company:

…while the Debtors have access to valuable insurance assets that they have relied on to fund their defense and appropriate settlement costs to date, the Debtors have been forced to fund certain litigation costs and settlements out of their free cash flow due to a lack of currently available coverage for certain Talc Claims, or insurers asserting defenses to coverage. The Debtors lack the financial wherewithal to litigate against the mounting Talc Claims being asserted against them in the tort system.

Well that sucks. In addition to the debtors issues obtaining insurance coverage, they’re also apparently bombarded by claimants emboldened by the recent multi-billion dollar verdict rendered against JNJ.. We previously wrote:

While certain cases are running into roadblocks, the prior verdicts call into question whether Imerys has adequate insurance coverage to address the various judgments. If not, the company is likely headed into bankruptcy court — the latest in a series of cases that will attempt to deploy bankruptcy code section 524's channeling injunction and funnel claims against a trust. 

Indeed, given issues with insurance (and JNJ refusing to indemnify the debtors as expected in certain instances), the massive verdict, AND discussions with a proposed future claims representative, the debtors concluded that a chapter 11 filing would be the best way to handle the talc-related liabilities. And indeed a channeling injunction is a core goal. Per the debtors:

The Debtors’ primary goal in filing these Chapter 11 Cases is to confirm a consensual plan of reorganization pursuant to Sections 105(a), 524(g), and 1129 of the Bankruptcy Code that channels all of the present and future Talc Claims to a trust vested with substantial assets and provides for a channeling injunction prohibiting claimants from asserting against any Debtor or non-debtor affiliate any claims arising from talc mined, produced, sold, or distributed by any of the Debtors prior to their emergence from these Chapter 11 Cases. While the Debtors dispute all liability as to the Talc Claims, the Debtors believe this approach will provide fair and equitable treatment of all stakeholders.

The comparisons to PG&E were on point.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Silverstein)

  • Capital Structure: $14.4mm inter-company payable.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Keith Simon, Annemarie Reilly, Richard Levy, Jeffrey Bjork, Jeffrey Mispagel, Helena Tseregounis) & (local) Richards Layton & Finger PA (Mark Collins, Michael Merchant, Amanda Steele)

    • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interst:

    • Imerys SA

      • Legal: Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP (Christopher Kiplok, William Beausoleil, George Tsougarakis, Erin Diers) & (local) Bayard PA (Scott Cousins, Erin Fay)

    • Future Claims Representative: James L. Patton Jr.

      • Legal: Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP

      • Financial Advisor: Ankura Consulting Group LLC

😷New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Trident Holding Company LLC😷

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Trident Holding Company LLC

February 10, 2019

It looks like all of those 2018 predictions about healthcare-related distress were off by a year. We’re merely in mid-February and already there has been a full slate of healthcare bankruptcy filings. Here, Trident Holding Company LLC, a Maryland-based provider of bedside diagnostic and other services (i.e., x-ray, ultrasound, cardiac monitoring) filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. What’s interesting about the filing is that it is particularly light on detail: it includes the standard description of the capital structure and recent efforts to restructure, but there is a dearth of information about the history of the company and its financial performance. There is, however, a restructuring support agreement with the company’s priority first lien lenders.

Here’s a quick look at the company’s capital structure which is a large factor driving the company into bankruptcy:

Source: First Day Declaration

Source: First Day Declaration

As you can see, the company has a considerable amount of debt. The above-reflected “Priority First Lien Facility” is a fairly recent development, having been put in place as recently as April 2018. That facility, provided by Silver Point, includes a $27.1mm prepayment fee triggered upon the filing of the bankruptcy case. That’s certain to be a point of interest to an Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors. It also contributed to an onerous amount of debt service. Per the company:

In the midst of market and competitive challenges, Trident has significant debt service obligations. Over the course of 2018, Trident paid approximately $26,185,667.75 in cash interest on the Secured Credit Facilities. On January 31, 2019, the Company missed an interest payment of $9,187,477.07 on the Secured Credit Facilities, resulting in an Event of Default on February 8, 2019 after the cure period expired.

But, wait. There’s more. The recent uptick in distressed healthcare activity is beginning to aggregate and create a trickle-down bankruptcies-creating-bankruptcies effect:

Moreover, a number of recent customer bankruptcies – including those of Senior Care Centers, LLC, 4 West Holdings, Inc., and Promise Healthcare Group, LLC – have exacerbated the Company’s liquidity shortfall by limiting the collectability of amounts owed from these entities. A number of other customers who have not yet filed bankruptcy cases are generally not paying the Debtors within contractual terms due to their own liquidity problems. As a result of these collection difficulties and challenges with the new billing system in the Sparks Glencoe billing center, the Debtors recorded $27.8 million of extraordinary bad debt expense in 2018 and $12.7 million in 2017.

Ouch. Not to state the obvious, but if the start of 2019 is any indication, this is only going to get worse. The company estimates a net operating cash loss of $9.1mm in the first 30 days of the case.

Given the company’s struggles and burdensome capital structure, the company has been engaging its lenders for well over a year. In the end, however, it couldn’t work out an out-of-court resolution. Instead, the company filed its bankruptcy with a “restructuring support agreement” with Silver Point which, on account of its priority first lien holdings, is positioned well to drive this bus. And by “drive this bus,” we mean jam the junior creditors. Per the RSA, Silver Point will provide a $50mm DIP and drive the company hard towards a business plan and plan of reorganization. Indeed, the business plan is due within 36 days and a disclosure statement is due within a week thereafter. Meanwhile, the RSA as currently contemplated, gives Silver Point $105mm of take-back term loan paper and 100% of the equity of the company (subject to dilution). The first lien holders have a nice blank in the RSA next to their recovery amount and that recovery is predicated upon…wait for it…

…a “death trap.” That is, if they accept the plan they’ll currently get “ [●]%” but if they reject the plan they’ll get a big fat donut. Likewise, the second lien holders. General unsecured claimants would get a pro rata interest in a whopping $100k. Or the equivalent of what Skadden will bill in roughly, call it, 3 days of work??

The business plan, meanwhile, ought to be interesting. By all appearances, the company is in the midst of a massive strategic pivot. In addition to undertaking a barrage of operational fixes “…such as optimized pricing, measures to improve revenue cycle management by increasing collection rates, rationalizing certain services, reducing labor costs, better managing vendor spend, and reducing insurance costs,” the company intends to focus on its core business and exit unprofitable markets. While it retreats in certain respects, it also intends to expand in others: for instance, the company intends to “expand home health services to respond to the shifting of patients from [skilled nursing facilities] into home care.” Per the company:

Toward this end, Trident conducted successful home health care pilot programs in 2018 in two markets to optimize its Care at Home business model with radiology technicians dedicated to servicing home health patients. Trident hopes to expand this business model to an additional seven markets in 2019.

Like we said, a pivot. Which begs the question “why?” In addition to the debt, the company noted several other factors that drove it into bankruptcy. Chief among them? The rise of home health care. More from the company:

Trident has suffered ripple effects from the distress faced by skilled nursing facilities (“SNF”), which are its primary direct customers. SNF occupancy rates have declined to a multi-year low as a result of structural and reimbursement changes not yet offset by demographic trends. These structural changes include, among other things, patient migration to home health care. The decline in SNF occupancy rates has led to reduced demand for Trident’s services. At the same time, Trident has only had limited success reducing costs in response to lower volumes, as volume declines are driven by lower utilization per facility rather than a reduction in the number of facilities served.

This is a trend worth continued watching. Who else — like Trident — will be affected by this?

Large general unsecured creditors of the business include Grosvenor Capital Management, Jones Day (to the tune of $2.3mm…yikes), Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas Inc., McKesson ($MCK)(again!!…rough couple of weeks at McKesson), Quest Diagnostics Inc. ($DGX), Cardinal Health Inc. ($CAH) and others. They must be really jacked up about that pro rata $100k!!

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge Lane)

  • Capital Structure: see above.

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP (Paul Leake, Jason Kestecher, James Mazza Jr., Justin Winerman)

    • Independent Director: Alexander D. Greene

    • Financial Advisor: Ankura Consulting (Russell Perry, Ben Jones)

    • Investment Banker: PJT Partners LP (Mark Buschmann, Josh Abramson, Willie Evarts, Meera Satiani, Elsa Zhang)

    • Claims Agent: Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions LLC (*click on the link above for free docket access)

  • Other Professionals:

    • Priority First Lien Admin Agent: SPCP Group LLC/Silver Point Finance LLC

      • Legal: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP (Alan Kornberg, Robert Britton, Lewis Clayton, Aidan Synnott, Christman Rice, Michael Turkel)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey LP

    • First Lien Agent: Cortland Capital Market Services LLC

      • Legal: White & Case LLP (Thomas Lauria, Erin Rosenberg, Jason Zakia, Harrison Denman, John Ramirez)

    • Ad Hoc Group of First Lien Lenders

      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Patrick Nash)

      • Financial Advisor: Greenhill & Co. Inc.

    • Second Lien Agent: Ares Capital Corporation

    • Ad Hoc Group of Second Lien Lenders

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins (Richard Levy, James Ktsanes)

    • Large Creditor: McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc.

      • Legal: Buchalter P.C. (Jeffrey Garfinkle)

    • Large Creditor: Quest Diagnostics

      • Legal: Morris James LLP (Brett Fallon)

    • Equity Sponsor: Revelstoke Capital Partners

      • Legal: Winston & Strawn LLP (Carey Schreiber, Carrie Hardman)

    • Equity Sponsor: Welltower Inc.

      • Legal: Sidley Austin LLP (Andrew Propps, Bojan Guzina)

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors

      • Legal: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP (David Posner, Gianfranco Finizio, Kelly Moynihan)

      • Financial Advisor: AlixPartners LLP (David MacGreevey)



New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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December 12, 2018

On November 11 and then, in a more fulsome manner in November 18’s “😬Biopharma is in Pain😬,” we noted that Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. ($SGYP) “appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy.” Looks like we were right on. This morning (12/12/18) at 4:37am (PETITION Note: remember that if you think that being a biglaw attorney is glamorous), the company and an affiliate filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York.

Synergy is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes gastrointestinal therapies; its primary speciality revolves around uroguanylin, “a naturally occurring and ednogenous human GI peptide, for the treatment of GI diseases and disorders” Geez…bankers and lawyers have nothing on scientists when it comes to the vernacular. The company has one commercial product (TRULANCE) and one product in development. The company owns 33 patents.

We previously noted:

The company has a $200mm 9.5% ‘25 secured term loan with CRG (~$100mm funded plus PIK interest) that has been amended a bazillion times to account for the fact that its revenues suck, its market cap sucks, and that its on the verge of tripping, or has tripped, numerous covenants including, a “minimum market capitalization” covenant and a “minimum revenue covenant.” In its most recent 10-Q, the company noted:

To date the Company has been unable to further amend the agreement with respect to the financial and revenue covenants. The Company is continuing discussions with CRG and has received a temporary waiver on the minimum market cap covenant through November 12, 2018. The Company is currently pursuing alternatives that better align with its business, but there is no assurance that Synergy can secure CRG’s consent or otherwise achieve a transaction to refinance or otherwise repay CRG on commercially reasonable terms, in which case we could default under the term loan agreement. If CRG does not grant a further waiver beyond November 12, 2018 the Company will likely be in default of the minimum market cap covenant.

In its bankruptcy filing, however, the company takes a decidedly less aggressive posture vis-a-vis CRG (which makes sense…CRG is, after all, its proposed DIP lender) when explaining the factors leading to the commencement of its chapter 11 cases. While the company does highlight lack of access to capital markets (which, at least as far as we read it, is an implicit jab at CRG), the company primarily blames TRULANCE’s slow sales growth, market access, competitive landscape and a smaller-than-anticipated total addressable market for its travails.

For its part, Centerview Partners has been engaged in a less than ideal sellside process here. According to the company’s papers, Centerview has been trying to sell the company since 2015. Now, unless there is some crazy element to this engagement, most bankers are compensated on the basis of success fees. They want to a large purchase price and a short marketing process to get the best of both worlds: a huge payday without huge utilization. That does not appear to be the case here. 3 years!

Still, they located a buyer. Bausch Health Companies (“BHC”) has agreed to be the stalking horse purchaser of the company’s assets. BHC would get substantially all of the company’s assets — including its IP, certain customer and vendor contracts, A/R, and goodwill. In exchange, they would pay approximately $185mm in cash (minus certain deductions and adjustments) and $15mm in severance obligations.

CRG is the company’s proposed DIP lender with a $155mm facility, of which $45mm represents new money.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of New York (Judge Garrity)

  • Capital Structure: $110mm 9.5% ‘25 secured term loan, $19mm 7.5% ‘19 senior convertible notes (Wells Fargo NA)

  • Company Professionals:

    • Legal: Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP (Ron Meisler, Lisa Laukitis, Christopher Dressel, Jennifer Madden, Christine Okike) & (special counsel) Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

    • Legal Conflicts Counsel: Togut Segal & Segal LLP (Albert Togut, Neil Berger, Kyle Ortiz)

    • Board of Directors

      • Legal: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

    • Independent Director: Joseph Farnan

      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP

    • Financial Advisor: FTI Consulting Inc. (Michael Katzenstein, Sean Gumbs, Heath Gray, Om Dhavalikar, Tom Sledjeski, John Hayes, Andrew Kopfensteiner)

    • Investment Banker: Centerview Partners Holdings LP (Samuel Greene, Josh Thornton, Ercument Tokat)

    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on company name above for free docket access)

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Prepetition Agent & DIP Lender: CRG Servicing LLC

      • Legal: Venable LLP (Jeffrey Sabin, Lawrence Cooke)

    • Stalking Horse Bidder: Bausch Health Companies Inc.

      • Legal: Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (Richard Mason, Michael Benn)

    • Ad Hoc Committee of Equity Holders

      • Legal: Cole Schotz PC (Ryan Jareck, Irving Walker, Norman Pernick, Mark Tsukerman)

    • Official Committee of Equity Security Holders

      • Legal: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP (David Feldman, Matthew Kelsey, Alan Moskowitz, J. Eric Wise)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc. (Christopher Di Mauro, Geoffrey Coutts)

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (Highbridge Capital Management, 1992 MSF International Ltd., 1992 Tactical Credit Master Fund LP)

      • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (Richard Levy, Jeffrey Mispagel, Matthew Warren, Blake Denton, Christopher Harris)

      • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal LLP (Mark Greenberg, Richard Newman, Jason Ivy, Martin McGahan, Allison Hoeinghaus, Seth Waschitz, Sean Skinner, Michael Sullivan)

      • Investment Bank: Jefferies LLC (Leon Szlezinger, Jeffrey Finger)

New Chapter 11 Filing - Enduro Natural Resources LLC

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Enduro Natural Resources LLC

5/15/18

Enduro Natural Resources LLC, an oil and natural gas producer with properties in North Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico, has filed for bankruptcy to effectuate a three-package asset sale to three separate stalking horse bidders.  The company notes in an endearingly self-aware way, 

"Like many other upstream energy companies, the Debtors did not anticipate in the early part of this decade that they would eventually succumb to the demands of repaying the capital they borrowed to invest in their exploration and production activities. But the prices of crude oil and natural gas declined dramatically beginning mid-year 2014, as a result of robust nonOrganization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' ("OPEC") supply growth led by unconventional production in the United States, weakening demand in emerging markets, and OPEC's decision to continue to produce at high levels." 

While the company took a variety of measures to combat the effects of these externalities -- including operational fixes and a prior out-of-court restructuring transaction -- its leverage remained too high in relation to asset value. Indeed, in the aggregate, the combined offers for the three packages of assets equates to $77.5 million which doesn't even clear the first lien debt. 

Finally, the beauty of a huge wave of same-industry chapter 11 filings is that you start seeing the same players over and over again. Among its top creditors are some other oil and gas companies with plenty of experience in bankruptcy court, i.e., Exco Operating Company and Basic Energy Services and, soon, Pioneer Natural Resources. The good times continue to roll in the upstream exploration and production space. 

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware
  • Capital Structure: $208.7mm first lien RCF (Bank of America NA), $141mm second lien debt (Wilmington Trust NA)   
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: Latham & Watkins LLP (George Davis, Caroline Reckler, Matthew Warren, Jason Gott, Lindsay Henrikson) & (local) Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Michael Nestor, Kara Hammond Coyle)
    • Financial Advisor: Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC
    • Investment Banker: Evercore LLC
    • Claims Agent: KCC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • Sponsor & Major Second Lien Lender: Riverstone Holdings LLC
    • First Lien Agent: Bank of American NA
      • Legal: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (Damian S. Schaible, Aryeh Ethan Falk) & (local) Morris, Nichols, Arsht, & Tunnell LLP
      • Financial Advisor: RPA Advisors