This is the kind of thing we've been looking for since the shale revolution really crushed the prices of oil and in this case, natural gas.
To steal a line from some guy who talked good:
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
-Winston Churchill
Mansion House, London, November, 10, 1942
From the Wall Street Journal:
KKR’s Samson Resources Plans Chapter 11 Filing by Mid-September
Oklahoma-based oil and gas producer finalized a restructuring plan with key creditors
KKR & Co.’s Samson Resources Corp. plans to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by mid-September after finalizing a restructuring plan with key lenders Friday.
The filing would represent the biggest corporate casualty yet of a slump in oil and gas prices and another black mark in energy for the private-equity pioneer.Publicly held KKR was down 96 cents (4.20%) in low volume after-hours trade. Here's what did 'em in:
The Tulsa, Okla.-based oil and gas producer agreed to hand ownership to a group of its lenders in bankruptcy, the company said in a statement Friday, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report. The move would wipe out the roughly $4.1 billion in cash KKR and its partners invested in the company. The private-equity firm led a $7.2 billion leveraged buyout of Samson in 2011, the biggest-ever such deal for an oil and gas producer.
Samson’s board approved the restructuring agreement Friday afternoon, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The energy producer intends to skip a bond payment due Monday and use a 30-day grace period to seek broader creditor support for its plan, the company’s statement said. Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code allows companies to restructure debt and take other steps to improve their finances.
Samson is the latest big, bad energy bet for KKR. In 2007, KKR with private-equity peer TPG in led a $32 billion deal for Texas utility TXU Corp., the largest leveraged buyout ever. After years of shuffling its finances to stay afloat, the company, renamed Energy Future Holdings Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection last year....MORE
