OFSCap announced that it formed an Energy Restructuring Team. Fred Zeidman and Jeffrey Freedman will lead the group. The restructuring team will focus exclusively on turnaround and restructuring of distressed energy companies, projects, or joint ventures. The team will complement the activities of OFSCap’s existing cross-border energy investment and merchant banking activities, both in the U.S. and throughout the world.

“The energy business has changed significantly over the past several years,” said James Row, OFSCap founder and managing director. “Our professionals in the restructuring team have kept up with the changes and bring a wealth of key relationships and contacts in the energy and financial community to solve the most challenging assignment.”

OFSCap’s dedicated restructuring team will work with companies in all sectors and levels of sophistication of the energy industry, from small start-up businesses to large mid-cap companies. The team can manage the efforts of both private and public companies in sectors from natural gas centric E&P companies, dedicated joint-venture oil drilling programs, to distressed oil field service companies.

Target clients will range from private equity funds, public company boards to the distressed company itself. The restructuring team will work with stakeholders to determine any number of possibilities which could include out-of-court consensual debt and equity restructuring, exchange offers and distressed M&A transactions, or formal in-court insolvency proceedings, including all U.S. Chapter 11 and 7 proceedings as well as administration, receivership, voluntary arrangement, liquidation and bankruptcy.

Zeidman’s energy restructuring activities have included serving as the chairman of the board and CEO of Seitel during its successful restructuring, chairman of the board of SulphCo and PetroFlow Energy, interim president and board member of Nova Bio Fuels, chief restructuring officer of Transmeridian Exploration, and chairman of the board & CEO of Unibar Corporation. Freedman has been involved with a number of private E&P and service company workouts and appointed CEO of Gravis Oil, a public Canadian company during its restructuring period.

OFSCap is a boutique investment and merchant-banking firm servicing the energy sector in the Americas and beyond. OFS is co-headquartered in Houston and Rio de Janeiro.