Two groups of Samson Resources Corp.’s creditors are competing to raise capital to back their different restructuring proposals before an Aug. 15 bond payment deadline, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The KKR & Co.-owned natural gas producer is unlikely to make a $110 million coupon payment due on its unsecured notes next month without a restructuring deal in place. Silver Point Capital LP and Cerberus Capital Management LP, who are negotiating for holders of $1 billion of second-lien term loans maturing in September 2018, are seeking a loan that will finance operations during a bankruptcy, said two of the people. The group hired investment bank Houlihan Lokey Inc. and law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher as advisers. Investors in the natural gas producer’s $2.25 billion of 9.75 percent senior unsecured notes due February 2020, led by Blackstone Group LP’s credit unit GSO Capital Partners, Oaktree Capital Group LP and Centerbridge Partners, are looking for cash to fund an out-of-court restructuring. The financing is key to getting Tulsa, Okla.-based Samson to sign on to one of the restructuring plans. Samson, which produces oil and natural gas from onshore shale formations, has been struggling to service its debt since energy prices slumped a year ago.
