Offshore driller Vantage Drilling Co. said that it reached a support agreement with lenders and noteholders holding more than $1.6 billion in debt to reduce interest expense, but that one of its units will file for bankruptcy today, Reuters reported yesterday. The agreement and bankruptcy will help subsidiary Offshore Group Investment Ltd. to ride out a downturn in the energy sector. The company said that the deal with lenders calls for deleveraging the unit, which holds the contracts for some of its rigs. "The agreement we've reached with our lenders and noteholders will eliminate more than $152 million of annual cash interest expense and position us with a strong, deleveraged balance sheet expected to have more than $242 million of cash on hand," said Paul Bragg, chief executive officer of Vantage.
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