June 20, 2017
Agreement provides for equitization of over $1.6 billion in unsecured bond debt and $375 million in new financing.
A cross-border Willkie team is currently advising a Steering Committee of High Yield Bond Holders on the financial restructuring of international oil services company CGG. The Steering Committee recently reached an agreement with the company, an ad hoc committee of its senior secured lenders, and a key shareholder that will, when implemented, result in conversion of over $1.6 billion on High Yield Bonds into a majority of the equity CGG and raise $375 million in new financing backstopped by the Steering Committee. The transaction will be implemented through a Sauvegarde proceeding in France, and proceedings under chapter 11 and chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the Southern District of New York.
This landmark agreement represents one of the largest and most significant financial restructurings in French history, and is the first time a restructuring is being conducted simultaneously under the French Sauvegarde and U.S. bankruptcy regimes. Listed in Paris and New York, CGG specializes in geo-seismic surveys.
The multidisciplinary Willkie team was led by partners Lionel Spizzichino and Gabriel Flandin in Paris, John Longmire and Leonard Klingbaum in New York, and Graham Lane in London. The team also included counsel Weston Eguchi in New York and associates Thomas Doyen, Batiste Saint-Guily, Igor Kukhta and Gregoire Dumazy in Paris; associates Ji Hun Kim, Jason St. John, Audrey Nelson and Jason Pearl in New York and associates Iben Madsen, Alexander Roy and Stephen Kennedy in London.
