Chesapeake Energy Corp. is working with restructuring advisers at Evercore Partners Inc. to shore up its balance sheet as commodity prices extend their decline, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Evercore bankers are advising the natural-gas producer on potential measures to reduce its $11.6 billion debt load, such as exchanging existing bonds at a discount for new securities or selling assets. The Oklahoma City company, co-founded in 1989 by famed gas explorer Aubrey McClendon, became one of the dominant U.S. natural-gas producers during the shale boom. Fueled by cheap debt, Chesapeake expanded aggressively in Ohio, Texas and other parts of the U.S., becoming the second-largest U.S. natural-gas producer behind Exxon Mobil Corp. But the tumble in natural gas prices has hurt the company, which has posted three straight quarterly losses this year. Chesapeake ended September with $1.8 billion in cash, down from $4.1 billion at the end of 2014, according to regulatory filings.
