Eagle Ford Shale producer Sundance Energy Inc. emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 23 as a privately held independent E&P based in Denver.

In a company release, Sundance said it had emerged from the Chapter 11 protection voluntarily initiated in early March after having eliminated over $250 million of funded debt obligations through a restructuring support agreement with its lenders.

“Today, I’m proud to say that we’ve emerged from our financial restructuring process having strengthened our financial structure by significantly deleveraging our balance sheet and positioning our business for sustained future success,” Eric McCrady, Sundance’s president and CEO, said in a statement on April 23.

Sundance Energy’s roots date back to 2004, initially focused in Australia’s Cooper Basin. The company began transitioning to the U.S. in 2006 with acquisitions in North Dakota’s Williston Basin and Oklahoma’s Arkoma and Anadarko basins before entering the Eagle Ford Shale in 2013.

In 2019, Sundance successfully redomiciled to the U.S. and began trading under a primary listing on the NASDAQ.

Prior to this, Sundance had already begun to solely focus its operations in the U.S. in the Eagle Ford Shale, where it had built a significant position including through the 2018 purchase of the Eagle Ford assets of Pioneer and its joint venture partner, Reliance Industries Ltd., for $221.5 million.

In accordance with the prepackaged plan filed March 9, Sundance emerged from bankruptcy as a privately held company and all prior existing equity interests had been canceled, according to the company release.

Sundance’s financial restructuring and prepackaged plan of reorganization, confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on April 19, also included a new board of directors comprised of four members. The company’s new board includes:

  • Owen Hill, Ares Management, managing director, credit group;
  • David Lazarus, Morgan Stanley, managing director, fixed income;
  • Damon Putman, Angelo Gordon, managing director, energy group; and
  • Dan Vogel, Apollo Global Management, managing director, corporate credit, energy and infrastructure vertical lead.

“With this stronger financial foundation, along with the support of our new ownership and board of directors, we look forward to an exciting new chapter for Sundance Energy,” McCrady continued in his statement.

At emergence, Sundance’s recapitalized balance sheet includes:

  • $137.5 million of committed indebtedness comprising a senior secured reserve-based revolving credit facility and a senior secured second out term loan; and
  • New common equity interests issued in exchange for certain funded debt claims, subject to dilution by new common equity interests granted under a new management incentive plan.

Sundance was represented in its reorganization by Latham & Watkins LLP, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Miller Buckfire & Co. LLC, and FTI Consulting Inc.

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