Top-ranked bondholders of Lightstream Resources Ltd. could take control of the struggling Canadian energy company under a proposed debt-for-equity swap, dealing another blow to creditors left out of a previous rescue plan, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The oil producer, facing a July 15 deadline to make an interest payment, tentatively agreed to give secured noteholders a 95 percent equity stake. The deal includes forbearance on Lightstream’s overdrawn revolving credit line while the company works out a plan to stay in business, according to the statement. If that doesn’t work, Lightstream said that it hired TD Securities Inc. to sell the business or its assets. Lightstream is struggling to stay afloat amid a two-year crude market rout that has driven 85 North American oil and gas producers into bankruptcy since the beginning of 2015, according to Haynes & Boone LLP. Calgary-based Lightstream was sued over a debt exchange last year that gave funds run by Apollo Global Management LLC and Blackstone Group LP’s GSO Capital Management second-lien claims on assets, pushing earlier debt investors further back in the line for a payout in a restructuring.
