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

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 - FULLBEAUTY Brands Holdings Corp.

FULLBEAUTY Brands Holdings Corp.

February 3, 2019

We’re going to regurgitate our report about FULLBEAUTY Brands Holdings Corp. from January 6th after the company publicly posted its proposed plan of reorganization and disclosure statement and issued a press release about its proposed restructuring. What follows is what we wrote then:


FULLBEAUTY Brands Inc., an Apax Partners’ disaster…uh, “investment”…will, despite earlier reports of an out-of-court resolution to the contrary, be filing for bankruptcy after all in what appears to be either a late January or an early February filing after the company completes its prepackaged solicitation of creditors. Back in May in “Plus-Size Beauty is a Plus-Size Sh*tfest (Short Apax Partners’ Fashion Sense),” we wrote:

Here’s some free advice to our friends at Apax Partners: hire some millennials. And some women. When you have 23 partners worldwide and only 1 of them is a woman (in Tel Aviv, of all places), it’s no wonder that certain women’s apparel investments are going sideways. Fresh off of the bankruptcies of Answers.com and rue21, another recent leveraged buyout by the private equity firm is looking a bit bloated: NY-based FullBeauty Brands, a plus-size direct-to-consumer e-commerce and catalogue play with a portfolio of six brands (Woman Within, Roamans, Jessica London, Brylane Home, BC Outlet, Swimsuits for All, and Eilos).

Wait. Hold up. Direct-to-consumer? Check. E-commerce? Check. Isn’t that, like, all the rage right now? Yes, unless you’re levered to the hilt and have a relatively scant social media presence. Check and check.

Per a press release on Thursday, the company has an agreement with nearly all of its first-lien-last out lenders, first lien lenders, second lien lenders and equity sponsors on a deleveraging transaction that will shed $900mm of debt from the company’s balance sheet. It also has a commitment for $30mm in new liquidity in the form of a new money term loan with existing lenders. Per Bloomberg:

About 87.5 percent of the common reorganized equity would go to first-lien lenders, 10 percent to second liens, and 2.5 percent to the sponsor, according to people with knowledge of the plan who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Which, in English, means that Oaktree Capital Group LLCGoldman Sachs Group Inc., and Voya Financial Inc. will end up owning this retailer. Your plus-sized clothing, powered by hedge funds. Apax and Charlesbank Capital, the other PE sponsor, stand to maintain 2.5% of the equity which, from our vantage point, appears rather generous (PETITION Note: there must be a decent amount of cross-holdings between the first lien and second lien debt for that to be the case). Here is the difference in capital structure:

Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 7.06.26 PM.png

What’s the story here? Simply put, it’s just another retail with far too much leverage in this retail environment.

Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 7.06.56 PM.png

Of course, there’s the obligatory product strategy, inventory control, and e-commerce excuses as well. Not to mention…wait for it…Amazon Inc ($AMZN)!

“In addition to these operational hurdles, FullBeauty has also faced competition from online retail giant Amazon, Inc. and retail chains, including Walmart Inc. and Kohl’s Corporation, that have recently entered the plus-size clothing space.”

Kirkland & Ellis LLPPJT Partners ($PJT) and AlixPartners represent the company.


We give bankruptcy professionals grief all of the time for what often appears to be fee extraction in various cases. In our view, there have been some pretty egregious examples of inefficiency in the system and, considering a number of our readers are management teams of distressed companies, we feel it’s imperative that we cure for a blatant information dislocation and help educate the masses. This, though, appears to be an extraordinary case. In the other direction.

The company’s professionals here propose to confirm the company’s plan of reorganization at the first day hearing of the case. As Bloomberg noted on Monday, this would “set a new record for emerging from court protection in under 24 hours.” Bloomberg reports:

The previous record for the fastest Chapter 11 process is held by Blue Bird Body Co., which exited bankruptcy in 2006 in less than two days. Fullbeauty and its advisers aim to beat that mark.

“We structured this deal as if bankruptcy never happened for our trade creditors, vendors and employees to avoid further disruption to the company,” attorney Jon Henes at Kirkland & Ellis, the company’s legal counsel, said in an interview. “In this situation, every day in court is another day of costs without any corresponding benefit.”

In fact, this case would be so quick that, as you read this (on Wednesday), Judge Drain may have already given the plan his blessing. This makes Roust Corporation Inc. (6 days) and Southcross Holdings (13 days) look like child’s play. For that reason — and that reason alone — we’ll forgive the company’s professionals for their blatant victory lap: it’s curious that Bloomberg had a completed interview ready to go at 9:26am on the morning of the company’s bankruptcy filing. Clearly Kirkland & Ellis LLP, PJT Partners LP ($PJT) and Houlihan Lokey Capital ($HL) want to milk this extraordinary result for all it’s worth. We can’t really blame them, truthfully. That is, unless and/or until the company violates the “Two Year Rule” a la Charlotte Russe.

Anyway, why so quick? Well, because they can: the entire capital structure is on board with the proposed plan and trade will ride through unimpaired and paid. All contracts will be assumed. There are no brick-and-mortar stores to deal with: this is a web and catalogue-based business. Like we said, this case is extraordinary. Per the Company:

It is in the best interest of the estates that the Debtors remain in bankruptcy for as short a time-period as possible. If FullBeauty is forced to remain in chapter 11 longer than necessary, it may be required to seek debtor in possession financing, which would cost the Debtors unnecessary bank fees and professional expenses. In addition, although January has been relatively smooth in terms of vendor outreach, FullBeauty expects that trade could contract very quickly if the company remains in chapter 11 longer than necessary—particularly because many vendors are in foreign jurisdictions and they do not understand the nuances of prepackaged cases versus longer prearranged or traditional chapter 11 cases. Every day that FullBeauty remains in chapter 11 results in cash spent that could go to developing the business.

Indeed, for once, it appears that the best interests of the debtor company were, indeed, heeded.*

*Which is not to say that we believe the out-of-court bills will be light.

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

  • Capital Structure: $mm debt     

  • Company Professionals:

    • Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Jonathan Henes, Emily Geier, George Klidonas, Rebecca Blake Chaikin, Nicole Greenblatt)

    • Independent Director: Mohsin Meghji

    • Financial Advisor: AlixPartners LLC

    • Investment Banker: PJT Partners LP (Jamie Baird)

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

  • Other Parties in Interest:

    • Financial Sponsor (69.6%): Apax Partners LLP

      • Legal: Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett LLP (Elisha Graff, Nicholas Baker)

    • Financial Sponsor (26.4%): Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC

      • Legal: Goodwin Proctor LLP (William Weintraub, Joseph Bernardi Jr.)

    • ABL Agent & FILO Agent: JPMorgan Chase Bank NA

      • Legal: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (Darren Klein, Aryeh Falk)

    • First Lien Agent & Second Lien Agent: Wilmington Trust NA

      • Legal: Shipman & Goodman LLP (Nathan Plotkin, Eric Goldstein, Marie Pollio)

    • Ad Hoc Group of First Lien Term Loan Lenders

      • Legal: Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP (Dennis Dunne, Gerard Uzzi, Nelly Almeida)

      • Financial Advisor: Ducera Partners

    • Ad Hoc Group of Second Lien Term Loan Lenders

      • Legal: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP (Paul Basta, Elizabeth McColm, Christopher Hopkins)

      • Financial Advisor: Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. (Saul Burian)

Updated 2/4/19 at 7:03 CT

New Chapter 11 Filing - Gibson Brands Inc.

Gibson Brands Inc.

5/1/18

After months of speculation (which we have covered here and elsewhere), the famed Nashville-based guitar manufacturer has finally filed for Chapter 11. We're old enough to remember this:

Late Tuesday, GIbson Brands CEO Henry Juszkiewicz denied all of the reports and indicated via press release that a plan was underway to salvage the brand.

What Mr. Juszkiewicz didn't say was that "a plan" actually meant a "plan of reorganization." Which is okay: nobody believed him anyway. 

And here's why: in the company's First Day Declaration, the company proudly boasts,

The Debtors' strength, rooted in their iconic Gibson, Epiphone, KRK, and other brands that have shaped the music industry for over 100 years, have been the brands of choice for countless musicians and recording artists, including some of the most legendary guitarists in history such as Muddy Waters, BB King, Elvis Presley, Pete Townsend, Keith Richards, Duane Allman, Elvis Costello, Lenny Kravitz, Slash, Dave Grohl, Joe Bonamassa, and Brad Paisley, among others. 

Anyone else see an issue with this lineup? Legends, sure, but not exactly a group of artists you see listed on Coachella posters. Even in a publicly-available document, this company doesn't know how to market itself to the masses. Case and point, after Guitar Center got its out-of-court deal done last week, we wrote the following:

Gibson may want to embrace the present. But we digress. 

Unbeknownst to many, however, Gibson is more than just its legendary guitars. No doubt, guitars are a big part of its business. According to the company's First Day Declaration (which, for the record, is one of the more jumbled incoherent narratives we've seen in a First Day Declaration in some time), 

Gibson has the top market share in premium electric guitars, selling over 170,000 guitars annually in over eighty (80) countries worldwide and selling over 40% of all electric guitars priced above $2,000.

But the company also expanded to include a "Professional Audio" segment, its musical instrument and pro-audio segment ("MI," which is positive cash flow), and a "Gibson Innovations" business ("GI"), which stems from a 2014 leveraged transaction. The latter business has been a drag on the overall enterprise ever since the transaction eventually leading to breaches of certain financial covenants under the company's senior secured bank debt financing agreements. The company was forced to pay down the debt to the tune of $60 million since the Fall of 2017, a cash drain which severely accentuated liquidity issues within that business. It came to this brutal reality: 

...the GI Business became trapped in a vicious cycle in which it lacked the liquidity to buy inventory and drive sales while at the same time it lacked the liquidity to rationalize its workforce to match its diminished operations.

That's rough. Even rougher is that on April 30, 2018, the GI business initiated formal liquidation proceedings under the laws of at least 8 different countries. Looks like Mr. Juszkiewicz' previous expansion "plan" was an utter disaster. 

⚡️Warning: Geeky stuff to follow ⚡️:

Now, the company is left with restructuring around the EBITDA- positive MI business with the hope of maximizing recovery for stakeholders. The holders of 69% of the principal amount of notes (PETITION NOTE: for the uninitiated, this satisfies the 2/3 in amount requirement of the bankruptcy code; unknown whether they satisfy the second prong of 1/2 in number) have entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement which would effectively equitize the notes and transfer ownership of MI to the noteholders. The company has also entered into a $135 DIP credit facility backstopped by an ad hoc group of noteholders to finance the company's trip through bankruptcy (the mechanic of which effectively rolls up some of the prepetition debt into the postpetition facility, giving the noteholders higher distribution priority). 

The RSA envisions a transaction whereby the company will exit bankruptcy with an untapped asset-backed lending facility and enough exit financing to pay off the DIP facility. So, the noteholders will collect some nice fees for about 9 months. The lenders under the DIP facility will have the option to cover the DIP monies into equity in the reorganized company at a 20% discount to the plan's valuation. 

⚡️Geeky Stuff Over. Now Back to Regularly Scheduled Snark ⚡️:

Naturally, current management has somehow convinced the new owners, i.e., the funds converting their notes into equity, that they're so invaluable that they should receive millions in "transition"-based compensation and warrants for upside preservation. Makes total sense. David Berryman, who runs Epiphone, will get a one year employment agreement paying $3.35 million, 5 year-warrants, and health benefits; Mr. Juszciewicz will get a one year "consulting agreement" paying $2.1 million, 5 year-warrants and health benefits (plus other profit-sharing incentives). It sure pays to run a company into bankruptcy these days. Naturally, they'll also get releases from any liability. Because, you know, bankruptcy!!

One final note: Thomas Lauria and White & Case LLP are listed as the 22nd highest creditor. Popping popcorn. 

  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware 
  • Capital Structure: $17.5 million ABL (Bank of America NA)/ $77.4 million Term Loan (GSO Capital Solutions Fund II AIV-I LP), $375 million '18 8.875% senior secured notes (Wilmington Trust NA), $60 million ITLA loan (GI Business only)
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: Goodwin Proctor LLP (Michael H. Goldstein, Gregory W. Fox, Barry Z. Bazian) & (local) Pepper Hamilton LLP (David Stratton, David Fournier, Michael Custer, Marcy McLaughlin)
    • Financial Advisor/CRO: Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC (Brian Fox) 
    • Investment Banker: Jefferies LLC (Jeffrey Finger)
    • Independent Directors: Alan Carr & Sol Picciotto
    • Claims Agent: Prime Clerk LLC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • DIP Agent: Cortland Capital Market Services LLC
      • Legal: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer (D. Tyler Nurnberg, Steven Fruchter, Sarah Gryll) & (local) Young Conaway (same four names as below)
    • Prepetition ABL Agent: Bank of America NA
      • Legal: Winston & Strawn LLP (Jason Bennett, Christina Wheaton)
    • Indenture Trustee: Wilmington Trust NA
      • Legal: Shipman & Goodwin LLP (Marie Hofsdal, Patrick Sibley, Seth Lieberman, Eric Monzo)
    • Ad Hoc Group of Noteholders
      • Legal: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP (Brian Hermann, Robert Britton, Adam Denhoff, Kellie Cairns) & (local) Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Pauline Morgan, Sean Greecher, Andrew Magaziner, Betsy Feldman)
    • Ad Hoc Minority Noteholders Committee (Lord Abbett & Co. LLC, Wilks Brothers LLC)
      • Legal: Brown Rudnick LLP (Robert Stark, Steven Levine, Brian Rice) & (local) Ashby & Geddes PA (William Bowden)
    • Equity Holder: GSO Capital Partners LP
      • Legal: White & Case LLP (J. Christopher Shore, Andrew Zatz, Richard Kebrdle) & (local) Fox Rothschild LLP (Jeffrey Schlerf, Carl Neff, Margaret Manning)

Updated 5/2 5:12 pm CT

New Chapter 11 Filing - Keystone Tube Company LLC (A.M. Castle & Co.)

Keystone Tube Company LLC (A.M. Castle & Co.)

  • 6/18/17 Recap: Publicly-traded ($CASL) Illinois-based specialty metals distribution company with customers in some hard hit sectors of late, e.g., oil and gas, retail, mining, defense, filed a prepackaged bankruptcy case to de-lever its balance sheet. 
  • Jurisdiction: D. of Delaware 
  • Capital Structure: $112mm first lien debt (Cantor Fitzgerald Securities), $177mm
  • 18 12.75% second lien notes (US Bank NA), $22.3mm '19 5.25% convertible third lien notes (US Bank NA)     
  • Company Professionals:
    • Legal: Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP (Richard Pachulski, Jeffrey Pomerantz, Maxim Litvak, John Lucas, Peter Keane)
    • Financial Advisor & Investment Banker: Imperial Capital LLC (Joseph Kazanovski)
    • Claims Agent: KCC (*click on company name above for free docket access)
  • Other Parties in Interest:
    • Ad Hoc Lender Committee (At Filing: Corre Partners Management LLC, Highbridge Capital Management LLC, SGF Inc., Pandora Select Partners LP, Whitebox Advisors LLC, Wolverine Asset Management Ltd.)
      • Legal (except SGF Inc.): Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP (Andrew Rosenberg, Jacob Adlerstein, Michael Rudnick) & (local) Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP (Pauline Morgan, Joel Waite, Ian Bambrick)
      • Legal (SGF Inc): Goodwin Proctor LLP (Michael Goldstein, Gregory Fox) & (local) Pepper Hamilton LLP (David Fournier, John Schanne)
      • Financial Advisor: Ducera LLC
    • Prepetition First Lien Agent: Cantor Fitzgerald Securities
      • Legal: Shipman & Goodwin LLP
    • Prepetition Indenture Trustee: US Bank NA
      • Legal: Dorsey & Whitney LLP (Eric Lopez Schnabel, Robert Mallard, Alessandra Glorioso)
    • Administrative Agent: PNC Bank NA
      • Legal: Goldberg Kohn Ltd (Jacob Marshall, Danielle Juhle) & (local) Blank Rome LLP (Josef Mintz)
    • Bank of America NA
      • Legal: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP (Jody Barillare, Rachel Jaffe Mauceri)
    • Nantahala Capital Management
      • Legal: King & Spalding LLP (Arthur Steinberg) & (local) The Rosner Law Group LLC (Frederick Rosner)

Updated 7/11/17 6:22 pm

Source: First Day Declaration.

Source: First Day Declaration.