Business Wire

PACIFIC-DRILLING

31.12.2020 20:53:13 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Pacific Drilling Announces Successful Completion of Balance-Sheet Restructuring and Emergence from Chapter 11 Process

Pacific Drilling S.A. (the “Company”) announced today that the Company and each of its debtor affiliates have emerged from the Chapter 11 process, signaling the successful completion of the Company’s balance-sheet restructuring and the implementation of the Modified First Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization of Pacific Drilling S.A. and its Debtor Affiliates Pursuant to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code (the “Plan”) confirmed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on December 21, 2020.

Pursuant to the Plan, all of the Company’s outstanding common shares were deemed to have no value and will receive no recovery. In accordance with the restructuring transactions contemplated by the Plan, upon emergence, the Company has a new parent company, Pacific Drilling Company LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (the “reorganized Company”), the equity of which is owned by former creditors of the Company and its debtor affiliates.

“We are pleased to reach completion of this process. Having now emerged from Chapter 11 with a fully de-levered balance sheet, we are well positioned to continue to deliver world class drilling services with our fleet of 6th and 7th generation drillships,” said Bernie G. Wolford, Chief Executive Officer of the reorganized Company.

After emergence, the reorganized Company now operates with a substantially de-levered capital structure, due to the elimination of more than $1 billion of funded debt obligations pursuant to the Plan. The reorganized Company has approximately $100 million in cash on hand, and access to an undrawn $80 million senior secured delayed draw term loan exit facility, to support its ongoing operations.

Additional information regarding the restructuring and Chapter 11 proceedings, including the Plan, can be found (i) on the reorganized Company’s website at www.pacificdrilling.com/restructuring , (ii) on a website administered by Prime Clerk LLC, at http://cases.primeclerk.com/PacificDrilling2020 , or (iii) via our dedicated restructuring information line at: +1 877-930-4314 (toll free) or +1 347-897-4073 (international). In connection with emergence from the Chapter 11 process, the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a Form 15 to suspend its duty to file periodic reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Advisors

In the Company’s Chapter 11 process, Greenhill & Co. acted as financial advisor, Latham & Watkins LLP and Jones Walker LLP served as legal counsel, and AlixPartners acted as restructuring advisor to the Company. Houlihan Lokey acted as financial advisor and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP acted as legal advisor to an ad hoc group of noteholders.

About Pacific Drilling

With our best-in-class drillships and highly experienced team, Pacific Drilling is committed to exceeding our customers’ expectations by delivering the safest, most efficient and reliable deepwater drilling services in the industry. Pacific Drilling’s fleet of seven drillships represents one of the youngest and most technologically advanced fleets in the world. For more information about Pacific Drilling, including the Chapter 11 proceedings and the Plan of Reorganization, please visit our website at www.pacificdrilling.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements,” and are generally identifiable by their use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “our ability to,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “projected,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or other similar words which are not generally historical in nature. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Our forward-looking statements express our current expectations or forecasts of possible future results or events, including from our Chapter 11 proceedings; the appeal filed by Patrick F. Lennon, in his capacity as liquidation trustee of the liquidation trust established in the Chapter 11 cases of Pacific Drilling VIII Limited and Pacific Drilling Services, Inc. (the “Liquidation Trustee”), of the order confirming the Plan (the “Confirmation Order”); the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business; future financial and operational performance and cash balances; our future liquidity position and future efforts to improve our liquidity position, revenue efficiency levels, market outlook, forecasts of trends, future client contract opportunities, future contract dayrates, our business strategies and plans or objectives of management; estimated duration of client contracts; backlog; expected capital expenditures; and projected costs and savings.

Although we believe that the assumptions and expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable and made in good faith, these statements are not guarantees, and actual future results may differ materially due to a variety of factors. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and are based on a number of judgments and assumptions as of the date such statements are made about future events, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated, projected or implied by us in such statements due to a variety of factors, including if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove incorrect.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include: the potential continued impact from our Chapter 11 proceedings; the potential outcome of the Liquidation Trustee’s appeal of the Confirmation Order; evolving risks from the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting significant disruption in international economies, and international financial and oil markets, including a substantial decline in the price of oil during 2020, which if sustained would continue to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flow; changes in actual and forecasted worldwide oil and gas supply and demand and prices, and the related impact on demand for our services; the offshore drilling market, including changes in capital expenditures by our clients; rig availability and supply of, and demand for, high-specification drillships and other drilling rigs competing with our fleet; our ability to enter into and negotiate favorable terms for new drilling contracts or extensions of existing drilling contracts; our ability to successfully negotiate and consummate definitive contracts and satisfy other customary conditions with respect to letters of intent and letters of award that we receive for our drillships; actual contract commencement dates; possible cancellation, renegotiation, termination or suspension of drilling contracts as a result of mechanical difficulties, performance, market changes or other reasons; costs related to stacking of rigs and costs to reactivate a stacked rig; downtime and other risks associated with offshore rig operations, including unscheduled repairs or maintenance, relocations, severe weather or hurricanes or accidents; our small fleet and reliance on a limited number of clients; the effects of the Chapter 11 proceedings on our operations and agreements, including our relationships with employees, regulatory authorities, customers, suppliers, banks and other financing sources, insurance companies and other third parties; the potential adverse effects of the Chapter 11 proceedings on our liquidity, results of operations, or business prospects; and the increased administrative and legal costs related to the Chapter 11 proceedings.

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

The Estée Lauder Companies Fully Establishes Its “One ELC” Operating Model and Reaches Milestone in Its Profit Recovery and Growth Plan1.4.2026 23:00:00 CEST | Press release

WPP Appointed First-Ever Global Media Partner, Unifying Media Execution Worldwide“One ELC” Operating Model Is Transforming How the Company Operates at Scale The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) today announced WPP as its first-ever global media partner, marking a significant advancement of its One ELC operating model, a scalable system designed to operate faster, execute with greater discipline, and drive growth. In fully establishing One ELC, the Company also reached a significant milestone in its Profit Recovery and Growth Plan’s (PRGP) Restructuring Program — a key action plan priority of Beauty Reimagined. Stéphane de La Faverie, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies, said, “With the appointment of WPP as our first-ever global media partner, our One ELC operating model is now fully established. This more unified and scalable system will enable us to be faster, more agile and efficient, and support unlocking additional growth. Together with our exec

Visual Bank Expands “Qlean Dataset” to Support Large-Scale Japanese Speech Foundation Models1.4.2026 21:45:00 CEST | Press release

Delivering 100,000+ hours of rights-cleared Japanese audio, including regional dialects and culturally contextualized speech essential for commercial AI development. Visual Bank Inc. (CEO: Saneyuki Nagai), through its subsidiary amanaimages Inc., one of the largest digital asset providers for the marketing and advertising industry in Japan with over 40 years of history, today announced the expansion of its Qlean Dataset, a premium AI training data solution designed for developers building high-performance Japanese speech foundation models. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260401752248/en/ Visual Bank Group, leveraging over 40 years of expertise through amanaimages Inc., expands Qlean Dataset, delivering high quality, rights cleared Japanese language corpora, including 100,000+ hours of commercially usable audio. A new development within the Qlean Dataset division, which focuses on providing datasets for institu

Manna Air Delivery Raises $50Million Series B as It Announces Plans to Expand in the United States1.4.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release

ARK Invest, backer of OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla and SpaceX, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Schooner Capital back new round bringing total funding to $110M Plans to scale to 40 bases in the United States, supported by seven years of operational orchestration experience, and recently expanded its global partnerships with Uber, joining Deliveroo, Just Eat and DoorDash in delivering everyday items by air. Manna Air Delivery, a global leader in consumer drone delivery, has announced a $50 million funding round to scale its proven operations further in the United States and Europe. The round brings Manna’s total funding to $110million. Manna now operates one of the most active consumer drone delivery networks in the world, with more than 250,000 regulated commercial UAV flights completed. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260310714366/en/ Manna Air Delivery raises $50m Series B Investors in the round include

Bureau Veritas Launches an Independent AI Assessment Offering for European Enterprises, Developed in Partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS)1.4.2026 17:45:00 CEST | Press release

Bureau Veritas, a global leader in Testing, Inspection, and Certification services (TIC), announces the launch of an AI systems audit to help European enterprises assess and demonstrate their compliance with the European Union's "AI Act" regulatory requirements. This offering combines on-site audits, document analysis, and direct testing to deliver an independent maturity report. Since the EU's AI regulation came into force in 2024, companies have faced major implementation challenges. According to a recent report*, 68% of them struggle to interpret the provisions of the text, while 60% have yet to put in place the governance needed to comply. Non-compliance can cost them up to 7% of annual revenue. Bureau Veritas has developed this new audit offering to help companies identify their compliance gaps and remedy them. Bureau Veritas's new audit offering comprises a pre-audit, document review, on-site audit, and direct testing, resulting in an independent report on the client's AI maturit

Greenland Resources Signs Eight Year Off-take Agreement With SSAB to Supply High Quality Molybdenum1.4.2026 16:29:00 CEST | Press release

Greenland Resources Inc. (TSX:MOLY, FSE:M0LY) (“Greenland Resources” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the Company has signed a binding off-take agreement with SSAB, a Nordic and US-based steel producer headquartered in Sweden. The company is a leading producer on the global market for advanced high-strength steels providing solutions to the defence, automotive, infrastructure and energy industries. A stock exchange press release from SSAB can be found on their website at www.ssab.com This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260401270749/en/ The off-take agreement provides an established price floor and price ceiling and will allow SSAB to secure high quality low carbon emission ferromolybdenum extracted in Greenland and refined in Belgium. SSAB will be able to ensure a stable and responsibly sourced long term secured primary molybdenum supply with high sustainability standards and low scope 1&2 emissions from a

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye