Norwegian seismic survey vessel owner PGS has turned to the High Court in England to push through a $1.2bn debt restructuring deal.
The Oslo-listed company has launched a scheme of arrangement to bring rebel banks on board.
PGS said it had issued a statement letter to its lenders under the $350m revolving credit facility and $522m term loan B facility.
In October, the shipowner had signed up a majority of banks to push out payments and maturity by two years, but some lenders are refusing to agree.
PGS has banks holding 95.4% of the debt onside. This is more than sufficient to meet the scheme approval level of 75%.
The owner is now awaiting approval from the English court to bind all lenders to the proposals.
Approval numbers rise
In October, PGS had agreement from 79.6% of the banks.
In June, the company said it was laying up three vessels and making 40% of staff redundant as demand for its services shrank.
PGS then started lender talks in July in a bid to preserve liquidity.
At that point, the seismic vessel owner raised the threat of loan defaults if it were not able to push back its repayment profile.
"Together with the cost-saving initiatives previously announced, the transactions will strengthen PGS’ liquidity profile in the currently challenging operating environment," the outfit said.
The scheme envisions a new maturity date of March 2024 for its borrowings.
New schedule
Amortisation payments will be now be $135m in September 2022, $200m in September 2023 and then $9m per quarter from March 2023.
Lenders will receive fees of $17.5m for the deferrals.
PGS will also issue a three-year 5% convertible bond worth up to NOK 116.2m ($12.4m). If converted at NOK 3 per share, this will equal 10% of the company, with revolver and term loan banks having a preferential right to subscribe.
The shipowner said that, including the vessel capacity reductions implemented in the first half of the year, the cash cost per year has been reduced from $600m to below $400m.
