The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas confirmed EP Energy’s amended plan of reorganization. EP Energy expects to complete its financial restructuring process and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by Oct. 1.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is serving as the company’s legal counsel, Evercore is serving as financial advisor and FTI Consulting is serving as restructuring advisor.
Upon emergence, EP Energy will reduce its debt by approximately $4.4 billion and receive $629 million in senior secured exit financing from its existing revolving loan lenders. In total, the restructuring process will eliminate approximately 90% of pre-petition funded debt and more than 90% of pre-petition annual cash interest expense. Following completion of the process, EP Energy expects to have under $500 million of debt and a new three-year reserve based loan credit facility.
“We are pleased to have received court approval of our amended plan, which enables us to emerge from this process with a strong balance sheet and sustainable business model that is positioned for success throughout commodity cycles — including today’s challenging operating environment and historically low oil prices,” Russell Parker, president and CEO of EP Energy, said. “We expect to generate significant free cash flow on a go-forward basis, which will provide valuable flexibility to create value for our stakeholders.
“I want to thank our dedicated employees for their commitment and unwavering focus to help us reach this important milestone in EP Energy’s financial transformation. I also want to thank our banks, which have provided invaluable support to the company with the debtor-in-possession and exit facility financings. On behalf of the EP Energy board and management team, I also want to express my appreciation for the continued partnership and support of our vendors, lessors and royalty owners. We look forward to completing this process over the coming weeks and beginning a new, stronger chapter.”
