Houston-headquartered drilling contractor Hercules Offshore has completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company’s existing debt has been terminated with senior notes worth $1.2bn converted to new shares, existing shares converted to new shares, and an additional $450m of new capital secured to keep the company liquid and to fund newbuild Hercules Highlander.
John T. Rynd, chief executive officer and president of Hercules Offshore, commented: “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Hercules. Proactively restructuring our balance sheet early in the cycle generated significant benefits for Hercules including substantial debt reduction and added liquidity that will allow us to meet our capital commitments and support operations. With our new capital structure, we are much better positioned to compete successfully in the offshore drilling market.”
A new board of directors will be appointed and Hercules expects to list its new shares on NASDAQ.
Despite the news, Hercules posted a third quarter net loss of $95.4m compared to a net loss of $88.6m in the third quarter of 2014.
