Oklahoma City-based Gulfport Energy Corp. has emerged from bankruptcy, the Oklahoman reported. The company announced yesterday that it successfully completed a restructuring process to emerge from chapter 11 protection with a new interim CEO, a new board and significantly less debt. It is among numerous Oklahoma-based energy companies to emerge from bankruptcy in recent years, including Chesapeake Energy, which emerged from its process in February. In all, Gulfport offloaded more than $1.2 billion it owed creditors. While the reconstituted company still has $853 million in debt, officials said yesterday that it has about $135 million of liquidity and a net-debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) ratio of 1.5x. Gulfport also announced the departure of pre-bankruptcy CEO David M. Wood and CFO Quentin Hicks. Timothy J. Cutt, chairman of Gulfport's new board of directors, will lead the company as its interim CEO while William “Bill” J. Buese has been named as its CFO, moving forward.
