⛽️New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Rosehill Resources Inc. ($ROSE)⛽️

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Rosehill Resources Inc. ($ROSE)

July 27, 2020

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Rosehill Resources Inc. ($ROSE), a Texas-based independent E&P company focused, via a fellow-debtor operating company, Rosehill Operating Company LLC (“ROC”), on the Permian Basin (and, more specifically, the Delaware Basin), filed for bankruptcy because of the usual suspects that literally every oil and gas company blames. Seriously, it’s like everyone is just copying and pasting Arya Stark’s hitlist at this point: “Vladimir Putin, Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, COVID-19, the competition, too much debt, etc. etc.” Never mind: we’ll stop ourselves. We’ve all heard this before. Many. MANY. Times.

Speaking of the debt, here is what the capital structure looks like and this is what will happen to it pursuant to the prepackaged plan of reorganization that’s already on file:

©️PETITION LLC

©️PETITION LLC

That should be pretty self-explanatory but there are a few things to highlight:

  • The $235mm exit RBL actually represents a decreased borrowing base. The original RCF had a maximum commitment of $500mm with a most recent borrowing base of $340mm. That borrowing base amount created a deficiency/liability the company struggled — when coupled with service obligations related to the RCF, secured notes and preferred stock — to make.

  • The DIP will run at 8% PIK which is better than the 10% cash pay under the secured notes.

In terms of operations, Rosehill operates or owns working interests in 133 oil and gas wells of which 128 are producing or are capable of production. And here’s what that production looks like:

Screen Shot 2020-07-27 at 4.40.44 PM.png

Is that interesting? Not particularly. We include only to demonstrate that we’re not the only ones who are capable of highly unfortunate and irritating typographical errors. More interesting is the fact that Rosehill earned $302.3mm in revenue in ‘19 against $239mm of operating expense. Revenue was basically flat from ‘18 whereas the company’s operating expense increased. On the plus side, the company had some favorable hedge agreements in place which, upon monetization, resulted in $87.6mm in proceeds that the company ultimately used to paydown its RCF immediately prior to the filing. Actually, who are we kidding? That’s not particularly interesting either.

Given how boring this bankruptcy is, the last thing we’ll mention — again because we and the entire world of finance seems to be obsessed with the topic — is that the company emanated out of … wait for it … wait for it … a SPAC!! While the company was originally incorporated in 2015 as a SPAC under the name KLR Energy Acquisition Corporation — sponsored by the KLR Group’s Edward Kovalik, Stephen Lee and Reid Rubinstein — the business corporation that ultimately became Rosehill Resources Inc. occurred in April 2017.

The rest, as they say, is now history. Perhaps we should start taking a running tally: new SPAC IPOs vs. old SPACs that have now filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy!

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

  • Capital Structure: $226.5mm RCF, $106.1mm second lien secured notes,

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP (David Feldman, Matthew Kelsey, Dylan Cassidy, Hillary Holmes, Shalla Prichard, Michael Neumeister, Ashtyn Hemendinger) & Haynes and Boone LLP (Kelli Norfleet, Arsalan Muhammad)

    • Financial Advisor: Opportune LLP

    • Investment Banker: Jefferies Group LLC (Jeffrey Finger)

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Admin Agent: JPMorgan Chase Bank NA

      • Legal: White & Case LLP (Mark Holmes) & Bracewell LLP (Jason Cohen)

    • Admin Agent to the Secured Note Purchase Agreement: US Bank NA

      • Legal: Shipman & Goodwin LLP (Kimberly Cohen, Robert Borden)

    • Second Lien Noteholders & Series B Preferred Stockholderes & Majority DIP Lenders: EIG Management Company LLC

      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Chad Husnick, Christopher Koenig, Mary Kogut Brawley) & Zack A. Clement PLLC (Zach Clement)

    • Tax Receivable Claimant & Preferred and Common Stockholder: Tema Oil & Gas Company

      • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (James Kapp III, Brandon White, Nathan Coco, Fred Levenson, Michael Boykins)


😷New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Quorum Health Corporation😷

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Quorum Health Corporation

April 7, 2020

Tennessee-based Quorum Health Corporation, an operator of general acute care hospitals and outpatient healthcare facilities, filed for bankruptcy in the District of Delaware (along with a long list of affiliates). COVID-19!! Not quite. This turd has been circling around the chapter 11 bankruptcy bin for years now. The fact that it is only now filing for bankruptcy under the cloud of COVID simply serves as cover for its fundamentally unsound capital structure, its lack of integration post-spinoff and the composition of its patient base (rural and dependent upon Medicare and Medicaid). Your Nana’s acute care powered by private equity/Wall Street!

About that capital structure…we’re talking: $99mm ABL + $47mm RCF + $785.3mm in first lien loans and $400mm of senior notes for a solid total of ~$1.285b in funded debt. All of this debt was placed in connection with the debtors’ origin story: a 2015 spinoff from Community Health Systems Inc. ($CYH). Troubles began from there. The company states:

The assets the Company received in the Spin-off were not initially set up as an integrated, stand-alone enterprise and presented certain day-one integration challenges, including addressing significant geographic dispersion that resulted in a lack of scale in key markets. In addition, certain of the hospitals that the Company received in the Spin-off were underperforming….

If you’re wondering whether this spin-off might lead to fraudulent conveyance claims well, to (mis)quote Elizabeth Warren, the company’s plan of reorganization has a Trust for that. That ought to be fun.

Otherwise, this is a deleveraging transaction. The ABL and holders of first lien claims will come out whole. Likewise, general unsecured claims will ride through. The holders of the senior notes will equitize their claims and come out, prior to dilution, with 100% of the post-reorg equity. Certain lenders will write a $200mm equity check. The case is on a quick one-month timeline through which it will be funded by a $100mm DIP; therefore, come May, this hospital system will, hopefully, be ready to confront a post-COVID-19 world.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Owens)

  • Capital Structure: ABL (UBS AG), RCF and Term Loan (Credit Suisse AG), $421.8mm ‘23 11.625% Senior Notes (Wilmington Savings Funds Society)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (Felicia Perlman, Bradley Giordano, David Hurst, Megan Preusker)

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: Alvarez & Marsal (Paul Rundell, Steve Kotarba, David Blanks, Douglas Stout

    • Investment Banker: MTS Health Partners LP

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • DIP Agent: GLAS USA LLC

    • Consenting First Lien Lenders

      • Legal: Milbank LLP (Dennis Dunne, Tyson Lomazow)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey

    • Consenting Noteholders

      • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Nicole Greenblatt, Steven Serajeddini)

      • Financial Advisor: Jefferies LLC

    • Major Shareholders: Mudrick Capital Management, LP, KKR & Co. Inc., York Capital Management Global Advisors LLC, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

🔌New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Agera Energy LLC🔌

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Agera Energy LLC

October 4, 2019

Agera Energy LLC, a retail electricity and natural gas provider to commercial, industrial and residential customers filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The company blames, among other things, mismanagement and poor strategy for the run-up to its financial problems: too many low margin fixed contracts in an environment that calls for variable contracts proved to be an albatross. Nevertheless, in September ‘18, sponsor Eli Global LLC agreed to pursue a turnaround plan including any and all capital infusions that might be necessary.

But then the hammer dropped. New management discovered “material balance sheet issues, which led to a restatement of the Debtors’ financials. Specifically, as of August 31, 2018, there was approximately $39 million of over stated receivables, of which $37 million related to unbilled receivables. As a result of the foregoing discovery, the Debtors suddenly found themselves in breach of the Senior Lien Supply Agreement’s $16 million Tangible Net Worth covenant.” WHOOPS.

Thereafter, the company and its lenders operated pursuant to a series of forbearance agreements while Eli Global LLC made millions of dollars of capital contributions. Until they didn’t. In May, Eli Global indicated that it was no longer in a position to inject capital into the business — and it still had $21mm in commitments from that point forward. Without the capital, the company was unable to satisfy, among other things, renewable portfolio standards it is subject to.* This dominoed into a separate liability for the company of approximately $72mm and a slate of enforcement actions from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission that threatened the debtors’ ability to sell electricity or natural gas in those states. Consequently, the debtors initiated a strategic alternatives review process which, naturally, included a marketing process for the sale of the debtors. The company now has Exelon Generation Company LLC lined up as a stalking horse purchaser (for the debtors’ contracts) for $24.75mm.

*RPS laws require a certain portion of a state’s electricity consumption to be generated from renewable sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, or hydroelectric.

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

  • Capital Structure: $161.6mm Senior Lien Supply Agreement and Senior Lien ISDA Master Agreement (BP Energy), $35mm Second lien Revolving Credit Facility (Colorado Bankers Life Insurance Company)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery (Timothy Walsh, Darren Azman, Ravi Vohra, Debra Harrison)

    • Independent Manager: Stephen Gray

    • Financial Advisor: GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC

    • Investment Banker: Miller Buckfire & Co. LLC & Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc.

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • DIP Lender: BP Energy Company

      • Legal: Haynes and Boone LLP (Charles Beckham Jr., Kelli Norfleet, Arsalan Muhammad, Kathryn Shurin)

    • Stalking Horse Bidder: Exelon Generation Company, LLC

      • Legal: McGuireWoods LLP (Cecil Martin III)

    • Platinum Partners

      • Legal: Otterbourg PC (Melanie Cyganowski, Eric Weinick)

10/7/19 #42

🔫New Chapter 11 Filing - Sportco Holdings Inc. (United Sporting Companies Inc.)🔫

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SportCo Holdings Inc. (United Sporting Companies Inc.)

June 10, 2019

Callback to four previous PETITION pieces:

The first one — which was a tongue-in-cheek mock First Day Declaration we wrote in advance of Remington Outdoor Company’s chapter 11 bankruptcy — is, if we do say so ourselves, AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ. The same basic narrative could apply to the recent chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Sportco Holdings Inc., a marketer and distributor of products and accessories for hunting, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday, June 10, 2019. Sportco’s customer base consists of 20k independent retailers covering all 50 states. But back to the “MUST READ.” There are some choice bits there:

Murica!! F*#& Yeah!! 

Remington (f/k/a Freedom Group) is "Freedom Built, American Made." Because nothing says freedom like blowing sh*t up. Cue Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." Hell, we may even sing it in court now that Toys R Ushas made that a thing. 

Our company traces its current travails to 2007 when Cerberus Capital Management LP bought Remington for $370mm (cash + assumption of debt) and immediately "loaded" the North Carolina-based company with even more debt. As of today, the company has $950mm of said debt on its balance sheet, including a $150mm asset-backed loan due June '19, a $550mm term loan B due April '19, and 7.875% $250mm 3rd lien notes due '20. Suffice it to say, the capital structure is pretty "jammed." Nothing says America like guns...and leverage. 

Indeed, this is true of Sportco too. Sportco “sports” $23mm in prepetition ABL obligations and $249.8mm in the form of a term loan. Not too shabby on the debt side, you gun nuts!

More from our mock-up on Remington:

Shortly after Cerberus purchased the company, Barack Obama became president - a fact, on its own, that many perceived as a real "blowback" to gun ownership. Little did they know. But, then, compounding matters, the Sandy Hook incident occurred and it featured Remington's Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle. Subsequently, speeches were made. Tears were shed. Big pension fund investors like CSTRS got skittish AF. And Cerberus pseudo-committed to selling the company. Many thought that this situation was going to spark "change [you] can believe in," lead to more regulation, and curtail gun sales/ownership. But everyone thought wrong. Tears are no match for lobby dollars. Suckers. 

Instead, firearm background checks have risen for at least a decade - a bullish indication for gun sales. In a sick twist of only-in-America fate, Obama's caustic tone towards gunmakers actually helped sell guns. And that is precisely what Remington needed in order to justify its burdensome capital structure and corresponding interest expense. With Hillary Clinton set to win the the election in 2016, Cerberus' convenient inability to sell was set to pay off. 

But then that "dum dum" "ramrod" Donald Trump was elected and he enthusiastically and publicly declared that he would "never, ever infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms."  While that's a great policy as far as we, here, at Remington are concerned, we'd rather him say that to us in private and declare in public that he's going to go door-to-door to confiscate your guns. Boom! Sales through the roof! And money money money money for the PE overlords! Who cares if you can't go see a concert in Las Vegas without fearing for your lives. Yield baby. Daddy needs a new house in Emerald Isle. 

Wait? "How would President Trump say he's going to confiscate guns and nevertheless maintain his base?" you ask. Given that he can basically say ANYTHING and maintain his base, we're not too worried about it. #MAGA!! Plus, wink wink nod nod, North Carolina. We'd all have a "barrel" of laughs over that.  

So now what? Well, "shoot." We could "burst mode" this thing, and liquidate it but what's the fun in that. After all, we still made net revenue of $603.4mm and have gross profit margins of 20.9%. Yeah, sure, those numbers are both down from $865.1mm and 27.4%, respectively, but, heck, all it'll take is a midterm election to reverse those trends baby. 

That was a pretty stellar $260mm revenue decline for Remington. Thanks Trump!! So, how did Sportco fare?

Trump seems to be failing to make America great again for those who sell guns.

But don’t take our word for it. Per Sportco:

In the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, the Debtors anticipated an uptick in firearms sales historically attributable to the election of a Democratic presidential nominee. The Debtors increased their inventory to account for anticipated sales increases. In the aftermath of the unexpected Republican victory, the Debtors realized lower than expected sales figures for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years, with higher than expected carrying costs due to the Debtors’ increased inventory. These factors contributed to the Debtors tightening liquidity and an industry-wide glut of inventory.

Whoops. Shows them for betting against the stable genius. What are these carrying costs they refer to? No gun sales = too much inventory = storage. Long warehousemen.

Compounding matters, the company’s excess inventory butted with industry-wide excess inventory sparked by “the financial distress of certain market participants.” This pressured margins further as Sportco had to discount product to push sales. This “further eroded…slim margins and contributed to…tightening liquidity.” Per the company:

Many of the Debtors’ vendors and manufacturers suffered heavy losses as a result of the Cabela’s-Bass Pro Shop merger, Dick’s Sporting Good’s pull back from the market, and the recent Gander Mountain and AcuSport bankruptcies. Those losses adversely impacted the terms and conditions on which such vendors and manufacturers were willing to extend credit to the Debtors. With respect to the Gander Mountain and AcuSport bankruptcies, the dumping of excess product into the marketplace pushed prices—and margins— even lower. The resulting tightening of credit terms eroded the Debtors’ sales and further contributed to the Debtors’ tightening liquidity.

The company also blames some usual suspects for its chapter 11 filing. First, weather. Weather ALWAYS gets a bad rap. And, of course, the debt.

Riiiiiight. About that debt. When we previously asked “Who is Financing Guns?,” the answer, in the case of Remington, was Bank of America Inc. ($BAC), Wells Fargo Inc. ($WFC) and Regions Bank Inc. ($RF). Likewise here. Those same three institutions make up the company’s ABL lender roster. We’re old enough to remember when banks paid lip service to wanting to do something about guns.

One other issue was the company’s inability to…wait for it…REALIZE CERTAIN SUPPLY CHAIN SYNERGIES after acquiring certain assets from once-bankrupt competitor AcuSport Corporation. Per the company:

The lower than anticipated increase in customer base following the AcuSport Transaction magnified the adverse effects of the market factors discussed above and resulted in a faster than expected tightening of the Debtors’ liquidity and overall deterioration of the Debtors’ financial condition.

The company then ran into issues with its pre-petition lenders and its vendors and the squeeze was on. Recognizing that time was wearing thin, the company hired Houlihan Lokey Inc. ($HLI) to market the assets. No compelling offers came, however, and the company determined that a chapter 11 filing “to pursue an orderly liquidation…was in the best interest of all stakeholders.”

R.I.P. Sportco.

*****

But not before you get in one last fight.

The glorious thing about first day papers is that they provide debtors with the opportunity to set the tone in the case. The First Day Declaration, in particular, is a narrative. A narrative told to the judge and other parties-in-interest about what was, what is, and what may be. That narrative often explains why certain other requests for relief are necessary: that is, that without them, there will be immediate and irreparable harm to the estate. The biggest one of these is typically a request for authority to tap a committed DIP credit facility and/or cash collateral to fund operations. On the flip side of that request, however, are the company’s lenders. And they often have something to say about that — objections over, say, the use of cash collateral are common.

But you don’t often see an objector re-write the entire frikken narrative and file it prior to the first hearing in the case.

Shortly after the bankruptcy filing, Prospect Capital Corporation (“PCC”), as the second lien term loan agent, unleashed an objection all over the debtors. Per PCC:

Just a few years ago, the Debtors were the largest distributor of firearms in the United States, with reported annual revenue of in excess of $770 million. Contrary to the First Day Declaration filed in these cases, the Debtors’ demise was not due to outside forces such as the “2016 presidential election,” “disruptions in the industry” and “natural disasters. Rather, as a result of dividend recapitalization transactions in 2012 and 2013, the Debtors’ equity owner, Wellspring Capital, “cashed out” in excess of $183 million. After lining their pockets with over $183 million, fiduciaries appointed by Wellspring Capital to be directors and officers of the Debtors grossly mismanaged the business and depleted all reserves necessary to weather the storms and the headwinds the business would face. In a short time, the business went from being the largest firearms distributor in the United States to being liquidated. As a result of years of mismanagement and the failure of the estates’ fiduciaries to preserve value, the Second Lien Lenders will, in all likelihood, recover only a small fraction of their $249.7 million secured loan claim. Years of mismanagement ultimately placed the Debtors in the position where they are in now….

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This sh*t just got much more interesting: y’all know we love dividend recapitalizations. Anyway, PCC went on to object to the fact that this is an in-court liquidation when an out-of-court process would be, in their view, cheaper and just as effective; they also object to the debtors’ proposed budget and use of cash collateral. The upshot is that they see very little chance of recovery of their second lien loan and want to maximize value.

Of course, the debtors be like:

scoreboard.jpeg

The numbers speak for themselves, they replied. They were $X of revenue between 2012 and 2016 and then, after Trump was elected, they’ve been $X-Y%. Plain and simple.

So where does this leave us? After some concessions from the DIP lenders and the debtors, the court approved the debtors requested DIP credit facility on an interim basis. The order preserves PCC’s rights to come back to the court with an argument related to cash collateral after the first lien lenders (read: the banks) are paid off in full (and any intercreditor agreement-imposed limitations on PCC’s ability to fight fall away).

Ultimately, THIS may sum up this situation best:

It’s genuinely difficult to pick the most villainous company in this story. Is it the company selling guns who made a big bet on people’s deepest fears and insecurities and then shit the bed? The private equity company bleeding the gun distributor dry and then running it straight into the ground? Or the other private equity company that is now mad it likely won’t get anything near what it paid out in the original loan to the distributor? Folks...let them fight.

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Silverstein)

  • Capital Structure: $23.1mm ABL, $249mm term loan (Prospect Capital, Summit Partners)

  • Professionals:

    • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (Timothy Walsh, Darren Azman, Riley Orloff) & (local) Polsinelli PC (Christopher Ward, Brenna Dolphin, Lindsey Suprum)

    • Board of Directors: Bradley Johnson, Alexander Carles, Justin Vorwerk

    • Financial Advisor/CRO: Winter Harbor LLC (Dalton Edgecomb)

    • Investment Banker: Houlihan Lokey Inc.

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • DIP Agent: Bank of America NA

      • Legal: Winston & Strawn LLP (Daniel McGuire, Gregory Gartland, Carrie Hardman) & (local) Richards Layton & Finger PA (John Knight, Amanda Steele)

    • Agent for Second Lien Lenders: Prospect Capital Corporation

      • Legal: Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP (Adam Friedman, Jonathan Koevary) & (local) Blank Rome LLP (Regina Stango Kelbon, Victoria Guilfoyle, John Lucian)

    • Prepetition ABL Lenders: Bank of America NA, Wells Fargo Bank NA, Regions Bank NA

    • Large equityholders: Wellspring Capital Partners, Summit Partners, Prospect Capital Corporation

    • Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (Vista Outdoor Sales LLC, Magpul Industries Corporation, American Outdoor Brands Corporation, Garmin USA Inc., Fiocchi of America Inc., FN America LLC, Remington Arms Company LLC)

      • Legal: Lowenstein Sandler LLP (Jeffrey Cohen, Eric Chafetz, Gabriel Olivera) & (local) Morris James LLP (Eric Monzo)

      • Financial Advisor: Emerald Capital Advisors (John Madden)

Update 7/7/19 #115

😷New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - SQLC Senior Living Center at Corpus Christi Inc. (d/b/a Mirador)😷

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SQLC Senior Living Center at Corpus Christi Inc. (d/b/a Mirador)

2/8/19

We started reading the papers for the bankruptcy filing of SQLC Senior Living Center at Corpus Christi Inc. (d/b/a Mirador) and started scratching our heads. “Have we read this before?” we wondered. The answer is, effectively, ‘yes.’ On January 30th, Mayflower Communities Inc. d/b/a The Barrington of Carmel filed for bankruptcy. As with Mirador, here, SQLC is the sole member of and administrator and operator of The Barrington of Carmel, too. And therein lies the familiarity: the first several pages of Mirador’s First Day Declaration filed in support of the bankruptcy have the exact same description of the continuing care retirement community business as that filed in The Barrington of Carmel case. Which makes sense: there’s the same CRO and financial advisor in both cases. And, so, we have to complement the efficiency: why reinvent the wheel?

Whereas Barrington was a 271-unit CCRC, Mirador — a Texas nonprofit — owns and operates a 228-unit CCRC, comprised of 125 independent living residences, 44 assisted living residences, 18 memory care residences, and 4 skilled nursing residences. Mirador makes all of its revenue from operation of the CCRC. Mirador is a smaller CCRC than Barrington and, similarly, its assets and liabilities are fewer. As of the petition date, the company reported approximately $53mm in assets and $118mm in liabilities, the bulk of which is comprised of $74.5mm of long-term municipal bond obligations (UMB Bank NA) and $13.9mm of subordinated notes.

So what factored into the company’s bankruptcy filing? It blames, among other things, (i) the inability to sustain pricing and the level of entrance fees needed to support its debt, (ii) the Great Recession’s effect on housing prices which had the trickle-down effect of impairing the ability of potential residents to sell their houses and pay the necessary entrance fee (which, in turn, led to below-model occupancy levels and depressed cash flow), and (iii) the competitive senior housing market in Corpus Christi.

To combat these trends, the company lowered its entrance fees to fill occupancy. While that worked, it “also produced the negative effect on the long-term financial ability of the Debtor to pay Resident Refunds as they became due.” See, this complicated things. Per the Debtors:

“The Debtor’s initial Life Care Residents often executed 90% refundable contracts, which resulted in higher Resident Refund obligation. In an effort to maintain occupancy levels, newer Life Care Residents often paid a lower cost Entrance Fee. Thus, as earlier Residents moved out of the Facility and became eligible for Resident Refunds, the Entrance Fees received from New Residents were not sufficient to cover the Debtor’s Resident Refund obligations. This pattern continued such that as of late 2017, the Debtor owed and was unable to pay Resident Refunds of approximately $2 million.”

This appears to be the nonprofit version of a Ponzi scheme, but we digress. In addition to the above, the company also stream-lined costs and curtailed company-wide expenses and administrative overhead. Ultimately, the company hired a slate of bankruptcy professionals and began a marketing process for the assets — a process that, in the end, culminated in the stalking horse offer by Aldergate Trust and Methodist Retirement Community for $20,350,000 in cash plus the assumption of certain liabilities. The agreement also includes the assumption of all Residence Agreements of former residents, preserving those residents’ rights to refunds. With this sale (and the proceeds therefrom) as its centerpiece, the company also filed a plan and disclosure statement on day one.

One last point here: considering that we now have two CCRC bankruptcies in the last two weeks and both are operated by SQLC, we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight that SQLC also operates four other CCRCs: (a) Northwest Senior Housing Corporation d/b/a Edgemere; (b) Buckingham Senior Living Community, Inc. d/b/a The Buckingham; (c) Barton Creek Senior Living Center, Inc. d/b/a Querencia at Barton Creek; and (d) Tarrant County Senior Living Center, Inc. d/b/a The Stayton at Museum Way. With 33% of its CCRCs currently in BK, it seems that — for the restructuring professionals among you — these other SQLC facilities may be worth a quick look/inquiry.

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Texas

  • Capital Structure: see above.

  • Company Professionals:

    • Legal: Thompson & Knight LLP (Demetra Liggins, Cassandra Sepanik Shoemaker)

    • Financial Advisor: Larx Advisors (Keith Allen)

    • CRO: Ankura Consulting (Louis Robichaux IV)

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Indenture Trustee: UMB Bank NA

      • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery (Nathan Coco)

    • Stalking Horse Purchaser: Aldergate Trust and Methodist Retirement Community

New Chapter 11 Filing - Tintri Inc.

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Tintri Inc.

7/10/18

On June 23 in "#BustedTech (Short Busted IPOs…cough…DOMO), we wrote the following: 

Tintri Inc., a publicly-traded ($TNTR) Delaware-incorporated and Mountain View California based provider of enterprise cloud and all-flash and hybrid storage systems appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy. There's no way any strategic buyer agrees to buy this thing without a 363 comfort order. 
In an SEC filing filed on Friday, the company noted:

"The company is currently in breach of certain covenants under its credit facilities and likely does not have sufficient liquidity to continue its operations beyond June 30, 2018."

Furthermore, 

"Based on the company’s current cash projections, and regardless of whether its lenders were to choose to accelerate the repayment of the company’s indebtedness under its credit facilities, the company likely does not have sufficient liquidity to continue its operations beyond June 30, 2018. The company continues to evaluate its strategic options, including a sale of the company. Even if the company is able to secure a strategic transaction, there is a significant possibility that the company may file for bankruptcy protection, which could result in a complete loss of shareholders’ investment."

And yesterday the company's CEO resigned from the company. All of this an ignominious end for a company that IPO'd almost exactly a year ago. Check out this chart:
Source: Yahoo! Finance

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Nothing like a $7 launch, a slight post-IPO uptick, and then a crash and burn. This should be a warning sign for anyone taking a look at Domo — another company that looks like it is exploring an IPO for liquidity to stay afloat. But we digress. 
The company's capital structure consists of a $15.4mm '19 revolving credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank, a $50mm '19 facility with TriplePoint Capital LLC, and $25mm of 8% convertible notes. Revenues increased YOY from $86mm in fiscal 2016 to $125.1mm in fiscal 2017 to $125.9mm in fiscal 2018. The net loss, however, also moved up and right: from $101mm to $105.8mm to $157.7mm. The company clearly has a liquidity ("net cash") covenant issue (remember those?). Accordingly, the company fired 20% of its global workforce (~90 people) in March (a follow-on to a 10% reduction in Q3 '17). The venture capital firms that funded the company — Lightspeed Venture Partners among them — appear to be long gone. Silver Lake Group LLC and NEA Management Company LLC, unfortunately, are not; they still own a good amount of the company.
"Isn't cloud storage supposed to be all the rage," you ask? Yeah, sure, but these guys seem to generate product revenue largely from sales of all-flash and hybrid storage systems (and stand-alone software licenses). They're mainly in the "intensely competitive IT infrastructure market," sparring with the likes of Dell EMC, IBM and VMware. So, yeah, good luck with that.
*****

Alas, the company has filed for bankruptcy. This bit about the company's financial position offers up an explanation why -- in turn serving as a cautionary tale for investors in IPOs of companies that have massive burn rates:

"The company's revenue increased from $86 million in fisca1 2016 to $125.1 million in fiscal 2017, and to $125.9 million in fiscal 2018, representing year-over-year growth of 45% and 1 %, respectively. The company's net loss was $101.0 million, $105.8 million, and $157.7 million in fiscal 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively. Total assets decreased from $158.1 million as of the end of fiscal 2016 to $104.9 million as of the end of fiscal 2017, and to $76.2 million as of the end of fiscal 2018, representing year-over-year change of 34% and 27%, respectively. The company attributed flat revenue growth in fiscal 2018 in part due to delayed and reduced purchases of products as a result of customer concerns about Tintri's financial condition, as well as a shift in its product mix toward lower-priced products, offset somewhat by increased support and maintenance revenue from its growing installed customer base. Ultimately, the company's sales levels have not experienced a level of growth sufficient to address its cash burn rate and sustain its business."

With trends like those, it's no surprise that the IPO generated less capital than the company expected. More from the company:

"Tintri's orders for new products declined, it lost a few key customers and, consequently, its declining revenues led to the company's difficulties in meeting day-to-day expenses, as well as long-term debt obligations. A few months after its IPO, in December 2017, Tintri announced that it was in the process of considering strategic options and had retained investment bank advisors to assist it in this process."

As we previously noted, "[t]here's no way any strategic buyer agrees to buy this thing without a 363 comfort order." And that is precisely the path that the company seeks to take. In its filing, the company indicated that it plans to file a motion seeking approval of the sale of its assets and bid procedures shortly. The filing is meant to provide the company with a chance to continue its efforts to sell the company as a going concern. Alternatively, it will look to sell its IP and liquidate. Triplepoint has agreed to provide a $5.4mm DIP credit facility to fund the process.  Savage.  

Meanwhile, today's chart (at time of publication):

Source: Yahoo! Finance

 

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware (Judge Carey)
  • Capital Structure: $4.7mm RCF (Silicon Valley Bank), $56mm term loan (TriplePoint Capital LLC), $25mm '19 convertible notes.     
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP (Henry Kevane, John Fiero, John Lucas, Colin Robinson)
    • Financial Advisor: Berkeley Research Group LLC (Robert Duffy)
    • Claims Agent: KCC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • First Lien Lender: Silicon Valley Bank
      • Legal: Riemer & Brownstein LLP (Donald Rothman, Paul Samson, Alexander Rheaume, Steven Fox) & (local) Ashby & Geddes PA (Gregory Taylor)
    • Second Lien Lender: TriplePoint Capital LLC
      • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (TImothy Walsh, Riley Orloff, Gary Rosenbaum) & (local) Polsinelli PC (Christopher Ward, Jeremy Johnson, Stephen Astringer)
    • Proposed Purchaser: DataDirect Networks Inc.
      • Legal: Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP (Blase Dillingham, Alan Noskow) & (local) Richards Layton & Finger PA (John Knight)

Updated 7/12/18 at 2:09 CT

New Chapter 11 Filing - AcuSport Corporation

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AcuSport Corporation

5/1/18

AcuSport Corporation, an Ohio-based (i) distributor of outdoor and shooting sports products and (ii) consultant to independent retailers, has filed for bankruptcy. Why? #MAGA!! That's why. 

In the company's words,

At a time when the defense market experienced a downturn in demand, the civilian small arms and ammunition market of the firearms industry was doing well. Consumers were concerned about the possibility of stricter gun control laws, which led to increased sales. Many firearms manufacturers, retailers, and distributors, including AcuSport, understood that consumers anticipated Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election in 2016. The common belief shared by businesses in the firearms industry was that demand would increase if Clinton was elected as President because consumers expected the new administration to seek to implement gun-control legislation. As a result, AcuSport, along with other firearms businesses, prepared for a spike in demand by, among other things, purchasing substantial amounts of inventory.

This should sound familiar. Remington Outdoor Company had a similar narrative when it filed for bankruptcy. Hilary Clinton's election loss has apparently wreaked havoc on the gun industry. To put some numbers around this, AcuSport's revenue decreased 30% in fiscal 2017 YOY. And yet it apparently has substantial inventory -- a fact borne out by its who's who list of top creditors. Gun lovers will recognize some of the names: Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. ($RGR), Glock Inc., Sig Sauer Inc., and others. If you're not a gun lover and happen to be a bankruptcy professional, you should recognize two others: Remington Arms Co. and Colt's Manufacturing Co. The latter two know their way around a bankruptcy court.

This turn of events triggered a default under the company's Wells Fargo-provided credit facility. The company proposes to sell to Ellett Brothers LLC, which has executed a stalking horse asset purchase agreement for a purchase price of $7.75 million plus the value of AcuSport's inventory. Subject to AcuSport's option and an administrative fee, the purchaser will also collect any accounts receivable existing at the time of closing. 

All of the Trump/NRA lovefests in the world can't seem to prevent gun-related companies from going bankrupt. Ironic. #MAGA!!

  • Jurisdiction: S.D. of Ohio (Judge Hoffman)
  • Capital Structure: $17.5mm debt (Wells Fargo Bank NA)      
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP (Jason Dejonker, Cullen Kuhn) & (local) Allen Kuehnle Stovall & Neuman LLP (Thomas Allen, Richard Stovall, Erin Gapinski)
    • Financial Advisor: Huron Consulting Services LLC (Daniel Wikel)
    • Investment Banker: Huron Transaction Advisory LLC (Geoffrey Frankel)
    • Claims Agent: Donlin Recano & Company Inc. (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • DIP Lender: Wells Fargo Bank NA
      • Legal: Goldberg Kohn Ltd. (Jacob Marshall, Jeremy Downs, Michael Tucker) & (local) Ulmer & Berne LLP (Reuel Ash)
    • Prospective Buyer: Ellett Brothers LLC
      • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (Timothy Walsh, Megan Preusker) & (local) Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP (Lawrence Oscar, Daniel DeMarco)

Updated 5/4 at 7:05 CT

New Filing - Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico & Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation ("COFINA")

  • 5/3/17 Recap: The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed a petition for relief under Title III of the the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act ("PROMESA"). Much has been written on this situation and so we're going to keep this brief. We're also going to shed the snark. Why? Well, because this is truly a sad story. GNP in Puerto Rico has declined over 14% in the last decade. The unemployment rate is 12.1% as of 10/16. The labor participation rate plummeted to 40%. The population has declined by 10% over the last decade. 46.1% of PR's residents live below the federal poverty level: the national average is 14.7% and Detroit's poverty level at the time of filing for Chapter 9 was 36%. Brutal. All in, the Commonwealth has $74 billion of bond debt and $48 billion of unfunded pension liabilities. A total dumpster fire.
  • Jurisdiction: United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
  • Capital Structure:

 

  • Professionals:
    • Counsel to the Oversight Board: Proskauer Rose LLP (Martin Bienenstock, Scott Rutsky, Philip Abelson, Ehud Barak, Maja Zerjal, Timothy Mungovan, Steven Ratner, Paul Possinger) & O'Neill & Borges LLC (Hermann Bauer)
    • Strategic Consultant to the Oversight Board: McKinsey & Co.
    • Municipal Investment Banker to the Oversight Board: Citigroup Global Markets
    • Financial Advisor to the Oversight Board: Ernst & Young LLP
    • Counsel to the Puerto Rico Tax Agency and Financial Advisory Authority: O'Melveny & Myers LLP (John Rapisardi, Suzzanne Uhland, Peter Friedman)
    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • Ad Hoc Retiree Committee
      • Legal: Bennazar Garcia & Milian CSP (A.J. Bennazar-Zequeira) & Clark Hill PLC (Robert Gordon, Shannon Deeby, Jennifer Green)
    • National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation
      • Legal: Weil (Marcia Goldstein, Kelly DiBlasi, Gabriel Morgan)
    • Ambac Assurance Corporation
      • Legal: Milbank Tweed & McCloy LLP (Dennis Dunne, Andrew Leblanc, Atara Miller)
    • UBS Family of Funds
      • Legal: White & Case LLP (John Cunningham)
    • Oppenheimer Funds
      • Legal: Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (Thomas Mayer, Amy Caton, Douglas Buckley, David Blabey Jr., Phillip Bentley)
    • American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
      • Legal: Saul Ewing LLP (Dipesh Patel, Sharon Levine)
    • The Employees Retirement System of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
      • Legal: DLA Piper LLP (Richard Chesley, Rachel Albanese)
    • Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP
      • Legal: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (James Kapp, Megan Thibert-Ind, William Smith)
    • Trustee: Bank of New York Mellon 
      • Legal: Reed Smith LLP (Luke Sizemore, Eric Schaffer, Kurt Gwynne)

Updated 5/11/17

From the Commonwealth's petition.

From the Commonwealth's petition.