Investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners has pulled its buyout offer for Pacific Exploration & Production Corp., one of a few possible deals that the Canadian-Colombian oil company was hoping would stave off a bankruptcy filing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Pacific Exploration, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange but has most of its assets in Colombia, has been hit hard by falling oil prices and a lack of new discoveries. EIG Pacific Holdings, the entity formed by Washington, D.C.-based EIG Global to acquire Pacific, said on Friday it had ended its offer for $4.1 billion worth of Pacific’s senior bonds. The tender offer expired on Thursday, and EIG said that all tendered bonds have been returned. EIG had offered the bondholders 16 cents on the dollar and had promised an overhaul of Pacific’s management and the sale of assets. As Pacific worked to complete the deal with EIG in February, 40 percent of the bondholders agreed to take no action against the company before March 31, despite a missed interest payment. Bondholders could agree to give Pacific more time to arrange a deal. But as it currently stands, Pacific is down to only a few days before bondholders can demand immediate payment or force the company to file for bankruptcy protection. Read more. (Subscription required.)
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