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Welcome to 9fin’s weekly newsletter dedicated to US distressed debt, restructuring and special situations news and developments. Check out what else we do for distressed and restructuring here.

9fin reported this week on how Veritas Technologies has received support from “key” creditors on a restructuring deal. The subtext there is that prominent New York hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has been the one playing hard ball with the company’s sponsor Carlyle, amassing an outsized position in the multi-billion dollar cap stack while angling for a meaty chunk of the proceeds from Veritas’s announced sale of the data protection business to AI company Cohesity.

More than that, Elliott is in the steerco of the Class A holders of Thames Water debt who are backstopping a £1.5bn tranche of expensive rescue financing for the troubled London water and sewage utility to give it time to restructure its debt privately with some semblance of order and avoid nationalization.

Indeed, no size capital structure is too large, nor situation too complicated for Elliott to get involved and throw its weight around (ask Argentina). In recent months, myriad of these deals have started to come to a head: Magenta Buyer needed to go through Elliott to finish its recap, where Elliott held $1bn across the capital structure, and negotiated an exchange into senior debt that was both four points higher as well as a wildly superior mix of priority tranches than both the ad hoc group and especially the non-ad hoc group.

Still pending, in Altice France, Elliott bent the arm of other secured debtholders after threatening not to sign up to the co-op agreement extension, having such an outsized position that it could garner concessions amongst the massive €17bn worth of senior debt held by the group.

Elliott took a different approach in Bausch Health, buying hundreds of millions of the near-dated bonds but refusing to join up with any ad hoc group that would make compromises on behalf of any later-dated paper.

In any of these situations, one now has to not only watch out for the strength of Elliott’s position given the size of its holdings — they must also beware of Elliott’s new podcasting competency.

Elliott didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

This week’s news (from articles published in the last seven days)

CLOs and LMEs — CLO managers are devoting more time to predicting and reacting to LMEs, given their ubiquity. Of the LMEs this year, Lumen’s debt exchanges ($3.3bn of CLO exposure), followed by Global Medical Response’s amend and extend of its roughly $4bn of loans ($1.9bn of CLO exposure) have affected CLOs the most, according to 9fin data.

LME trends — The maiden edition of a series focusing on sharing data-driven insights and trends on LMEs was published this week. In the first article of this series, 9fin found that the vast majority of troubled companies that have initiated LMEs this year turned to their existing lenders to raise new money. However, multiple sources say there might soon be a reversal to the trend as these existing creditors become more experienced and are now approaching the negotiation table with greater sophistication.

EchoStar/DISH Network — An ad hoc group of DISH Network and DISH DBS bondholders wrote to DIRECTV expressing its frustration but also continued willingness to work with EchoStar on a solution for the DBS notes. The letter came after DIRECTV rejected the group’s counterproposal for the DISH DBS notes exchange, which entailed taking a lower, $300m discount and incremental structural protections.

Veritas Technologies — The Carlyle-backed company is nearing a deal with its key creditors over ways to repay its multi-billion dollar debt stack, after a sale of its data protection business to Cohesity was announced.

Pure Fishing — The Sycamore-backed company has raised a $750m credit facility due 2029 from investors including Monarch Alternative Capital and Silver Point Finance, with proceeds to tackle its term loan and asset-backed loans. 9fin caught wind of the financing raise prior to the company’s announcement.

Ardagh — A crossholder group of the packaging company’s bondholders has extended a co-op agreement from October to mid-December, two sources told 9fin. The group is being advised by Gibson Dunn and Perella Weinberg Partners. Management faced a tense Q&A on its Q3 24 earnings call after it cut its FY 24 EBITDA guidance.

Office Properties Income Trust — The troubled office REIT filed an 8-K stating that it has been in discussions with a four-member ad hoc group holding a majority of its senior notes due 2025 for a refinancing of its debt and that an ad hoc group member has declined to continue negotiations. The filing came with details of proposals exchanged between the company and the creditor group.

Lycra — The US-based spandex maker is approaching private credit lenders and opportunistic credit funds about raising $350m, which will be used to repay its super senior debt, sources said. Price talk on the private credit deal is coming together but will likely be in the range of SOFR+800bps-850bps, sources said.

Medical Properties Trust — The distressed real estate REIT forked over another $2m to Steward’s FILO lenders for the sale of some the bankrupt hospital’s Florida properties. An individual investor from Texas announced a surprise 6.2% equity stake in MPT which amounts to around a $200m investment this week. The independent members of MPT’s board had earlier cleared the company and its management of Viceroy Research’s allegations of wrongdoing, including in relation to MPT’s dealings with bankrupt tenant Steward Health Care. 9fin has published a deep-dive report on the troubled US-based healthcare REIT.

Viasat — The satellite company’s debt continues to trade down, with Intelsat’s Boeing-made satellite’s recent failure and Qatar Airways’ launch of Starlink internet on an initial flight cited by sources as the latest potential catalysts.  

Lumen — The telecom company’s debt traded up this week after it announced a partnership with Meta to expand the tech giant’s network capacity.

Spirit Airlines — It was reported that merger talks between Spirit and Frontier Airlines have been revived, and that a merger could take place via Chapter 11. Also, the company announced the sale of 23 yet to be delivered aircraft for $519m, with Spirit to receive $225m in cash post the repayment of corresponding debt. Spirit’s stock and bonds rallied as a result.

Northvolt — The Swedish electric battery manufacturer, which 9fin reported has hired advisors to explore in-court restructuring options in both the United States and Sweden, is reported to have raised short-term financing as talks continue on a larger financing deal.

Bausch Health — Banks and private lenders are reported to be competing to provide at least $5bn of buyout financing for the sale by Bausch Health of its Bausch & Lomb unit at a valuation of at least $10bn. Blackstone and TPG are understood to be preparing a bid.

TGI Friday’s — The casual dining chain is reported to be seeking DIP financing as it prepares for a bankruptcy filing.

Brightspeed — Some bank lenders are reported to have begun trying to unload the long hung debt (presumably the debt recently exchanged into) of the Apollo-backed internet provider.

CareMax — After recently extending waivers under its credit agreement, most recently through 28 October, the value-based healthcare provider drew down on stopgap financing to keep afloat. 9fin earlier reported that the company is laying the groundwork for a potential bankruptcy filing. Bankruptcy

Intrum — Solicitation of Intrum’s proposed Chapter 11 plan commenced on 17 October. Intrum intends to enter into Chapter 11 on or before 17 November in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Also, the company announcing earnings that show investment and servicing income dropped and management noted that the company is adamant about moving forward with its plan to file a crossborder in-court restructuring in the US and Sweden. The YTW on the €600m notes due 2025 shot up this week from 39% to 47%, which could suggest someone's traded out of the notes as the price now matches the longer dated debt. This could be another signal that the non-supporting group of bondholders can't block the Chapter 11 pre-pack filing. 9fin was the first to report Intrum was going to file bankruptcy in the US.

American Tire Distributors — ATD entered Chapter 11 this week, its second visit to bankruptcy court since 2018. The company is backed by an RSA with its term loan lenders and intends to transition ownership of the company through a sale process.

Big Lots — A second-day hearing resulted in approval of the company’s DIP motion and store closing sales motion. The company’s bid procedures and breakup fee and expense reimbursement for its stalking horse bidder were also approved this week.

Express — The company’s disclosure statement hearing has been pushed a week following an objection by the US Trustee to third-party releases contained in the proposed plan.

Incora — The company and its secured lenders were able to come to a resolution for the terms of a Chapter 11 plan that will enable the company to exit Chapter 11 in the near term. While the terms of the settlement have not yet been released, the plan will preserve appellate rights for all parties with respect to the LME decision in the case.

Purdue Pharma — The company has requested an additional 35-day extension to the mediation process and preliminary injunction after reporting that the mediation is at a fluid and critical junction.

Red River Talc (J&J) — Red River received approval of its temporary restraining order which will put a pause on certain talk litigation that will be addressed in the bankruptcy and extends to certain non-debtor protected parties, including J&J. The fight is far from over, however, as the UST in the case has filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Steward Health Care — The company received approval to sell seven hospitals at a hearing held today.

Tupperware Brands — The company has avoided a dismissal fight by announcing a settlement in principle with its ad hoc group of lenders and unsecured creditors committee, paving the way for a sale of certain assets to the ad hoc group.

Gol Airlines — Abra, Gol’s majority investor, announced the closing of $1.25bn in financings, including loans from Castlelake, to help refinance its senior secured exchangeable notes due 2028. In conjunction, holders of nearly all the 2028s agreed to amend the bond indenture to resolve defaults, including ones relating to Gol’s chapter 11 filing.

Other active distressed and restructuring coverage (from articles prior to the past seven days)

Clearlake and LMEs — We published the maiden edition of our LME profiles of private equity sponsors with a focus on Clearlake’s portfolio companies, which show distress is concentrated in the firm’s sixth buyout fund. At least 11 of the 50 “current investments” listed on the company’s website carry debt that trades below 85 cents on the dollar — the metric we used to define distress.

US Distressed/Restructuring Tracker Report — We published our first monthly report covering notable situations/transactions in our restructuring tracker that are on our watchlist, are expected to materialize, are in progress or were recently completed. The tracker is a work in progress and, in the coming months, 9fin will roll out many user-friendly updates to the tracker and will complete a backfill exercise. Meanwhile, we welcome any suggestions for improvements.

Distressed Pitch List — In an update to our Distressed Pitch List, we added Plug Power and Sunrun.

24 Hour Fitness — The fitness chain is working with Piper Sandler to explore strategic and refinancing options ahead of $300m in debt coming due 2025.

Allen Media — After the media company engaged two law firms to explore options ahead of an upcoming debt maturity, a group of term loan lenders holding $100m are also said to have organized. Multiple groups of other lenders were earlier reported to have united under a single cooperation agreement.

Forward Air — The troubled freight transportation company is reported to have ceded to activist investor demands, hiring investment bankers to sell itself.

Altice France — 9fin explored XpFibre’s recent refinancing and dividend recap, tallying up the portion of the €5.8bn of credit facilities raised at Altice France’s unrestricted joint venture used to refinance existing debt versus adding to Drahi’s war chest in negotiations with lenders.

Altice International — After the company sold its first asset since announcing its strategic review and since Altice France’s ultimatum, listeners on the Q2 24 earnings call were keen to hear how the telco would apply the Teads sale proceeds. It’s fair to say management was slightly ambiguous. 9fin’s earnings review is available here.

Altice USA — 9fin explores the different options available to Altice USA and its creditors in our LME Breakdown.

Alkegen — The insulation products manufacturer closed an Oak Hill-led refinancing of its revolver and term loans due 2025 and a private exchange for its notes with a subset of holders, and launched a public exchange for the remaining notes.

AMC Entertainment — The 1L noteholders who were left out of the AMC’s recent LME have filed a complaint in New York State Court alleging AMC and its junior creditors violated the intercreditor agreement in effecting this transaction. We summarize the complaint here.

Anastasia Beverly Hills — Crossholders are in talks to renew a cooperation agreement set to expire in the near-term, following weaker than expected second quarter earnings.

Aventiv — Following a deal with lenders to either sell the business or equitize outstanding loans to hand control to lenders, the Platinum Equity-backed prison telephone company is said to have told investors that multiple parties have expressed interest in a buyout.

B. Riley Financial — To raise cash, the troubled financial services company has an agreement with Oaktree for a $203m investment in Great American Group, a company holding its appraisal and valuation services, retail, wholesale and industrial solutions and real estate businesses. It remains obligated to its credit agreement lenders for reducing the term loan to $100m or lower by September 2025 and complying with new leverage, interest coverage and liquidity maintenance covenants, among other restrictions.

Better Health (fka Physician Partners) — The healthcare provider and lenders hired advisors ahead of potential negotiations with the company and sponsor Kinderhook Industries.

Beyond Meat — The producer of plant-based meat substitutes is reported to have engaged with a group of convertible noteholders on a restructuring.

CommScope — 9fin published an LME Breakdown to answer questions around how CommScope could use sale proceeds to address almost $6bn in 2025 and 2026 maturities, after the announcement of the $2.1bn sale of assets to Amphenol.

Cox Media — The Apollo-backed media company unveiled exchange offers for its term loan, unsecured notes and revolver, backed by a transaction support agreement with holders of around 88% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes. The company aims to push out the loan and note maturities to 2029.

Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare — The CD&R-backed company has embarked on a sale process that could involve selling its assets piecemeal or as a single entity. Drive, which makes medical equipment, previously went through an out-of-court restructuring, in which the sponsor kicked in fresh cash and existing first and second lien lenders agreed to extend the debt wall.

Del Monte Foods — Asset manager Black Diamond is suing Del Monte Foods in an attempt to force the removal of the food company’s board of directors following a liability management exercise earlier this year.

Empire Today — The Charlesbank Capital Partners-backed flooring company has hired advisors after lenders organized.

EmployBridge — Certain lenders have organized as the company reported weaker performance with debt trading poorly and rumors of the company’s sponsor Apollo buying back debt in the secondary market.

EW Scripps — The CEO of the broadcasting company penned a note to staff stating that the company will cut jobs as its news operation moves to digital-only coverage in mid-November. This comes as the company faces $1.26bn in upcoming debt maturities. Scripps’ shares and longer-dated bonds bid up on the news, and stock rallied.

Fossil Group — Following quarters of dismal results and with an operational restructuring ongoing, Fossil announced the resignation of its CFO and the appointment of Andy Skobe of Ankura to provide interim CFO services.

FreshDirect — The grocery delivery company is set to get some rescue financing from its parent company, Getir, to help support its operational needs.

GPS Hospitality — The privately owned quick service restaurant franchisee disclosed poor quarterly numbers, and senior secured notes dropped 11 cents.

GrafTech International — Certain creditors have signed a cooperation agreement to bind their acts together in potential negotiations with the company.

Hawaiian Electric — The utility company raised nearly $500m (and potentially another $75m) through an equity offering aimed at raising cash to fund its contribution to the Maui wildfire litigation settlement.

Hearthside Food Solutions — The company reported Q2 24 earnings showing widening losses and warned that its ability to continue as a going concern depended on its efforts to address a raft of near-term debt maturities.

Hertz — 9fin published its fourth LME breakdown, this time on Hertz, discussing how the car rental company could push out near-term maturities, meet the leverage covenant in its credit agreement and potentially raise cash.

iHeartMedia — iHeartMedia has yet to strike a deal with its largest creditor group.

KIK Consumer Products — The company’s bonds plunged after news of a fire broke out at its facility in Atlanta. In a message to private lenders, KIK said the fire and resulting damage was limited to an insured warehouse and its production areas can restart once the area is safe to re-enter.

Leslie’s — The swimming pool maintenance and supply company shared a bleak preview of the third quarter and full year, sending its stock and term loan tumbling.

LifeScan — Per an S&P note, the Platinum Equity-backed medical device company skipped principal and interest payments on its third lien term loan and entered into a forbearance agreement through 29 October with its first and second lien lenders.

LOGIX Fiber Networks — The fiber-based voice and data company hired Houlihan Lokey to advise it ahead of an upcoming maturity wall.

Mavenir Systems — Lenders are in confidential negotiations with the Texas-based software company as they try to find ways to increase its financial breathing room.

Michaels Stores — The Apollo-owned arts and craft retailer reported a more than 20% decline in Q2 EBITDA due to weaker sales and margin pressure, sparking its bonds to edge down.

ModivCare — The medical transportation provider obtained covenant relief from bank lenders while it negotiates a long-term deal. It had recently revised its 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance downwards, filed an S-3 looking to raise $200m of capital, and amended financials to include a going concern warning in the midst of difficulties collecting on receivables.

MultiPlan — The company successfully defended against an antitrust complaint filed in the Verity Health System Chapter 11 case by the liquidating trustee.

New Fortress Energy — The energy company, facing a wall of debt coming due in the next two years, has struck a deal with secured noteholders to push out maturities until 2029 and issue $1.2bn of new 12% senior secured notes (press release here). Holders of its $1bn revolver have also tapped Lazard as an advisor as that facility comes due in 2026, 9fin sources say. The company also delayed the payment of its previously declared dividend.

OnTrac — The company, formerly known as LaserShip, has been considering raising new money through a potential drop-down deal with third-party lenders, according to 9fin sources. The proposed out-of-court restructuring comes after last month’s hard-fought negotiations with a creditor group that organized with Gibson Dunn.

Oriflame — The Swedish-Swiss multi-level marketing company has added Kirkland & Ellis to its advisory roster for refinancing discussions with lenders, after it set up for a potential LME and bondholders signed a co-op. The company has a €100m RCF, €250m senior secured FRNs and $550m senior secured notes maturing in the next two years.

Packers Sanitation — The sanitation company was downgraded to CCC- on the increasing principal outstanding on its mezzanine facility due 2025 potentially complicating refinancing efforts.

P&L Development — The family owned over-the-counter drug manufacturer launched an exchange offer to swap its 7.75% senior secured notes due 2025 into PIK-toggled notes due 2029, just a month after 9fin reported it was holding informal talks with lenders. An ad-hoc group holding 63% of the notes has already agreed to the deal.

Porter Airlines — The Canadian airline has gauged interest from private credit lenders in raising CA$250m in preferred equity to boost liquidity.

Quest Software — Trading desks have begun publishing quotes on the Clearlake-backed software company’s debt distinguished between co-op and non-co-op paper, with its term loans in distressed territory.

Radiate Holdco (aka Astound Broadband) — The company has received a new $50m loan from its private equity backer Stonepeak. It has been exploring restructuring options with a group of lenders, but the talks fell apart over certain terms of the proposed debt swap and new money offer.

Salem Media — Certain debt holders have banded together to negotiate a possible debt restructuring with the conservative Christian media company.

Sandvine — The company announced that it has been acquired by a group of lenders to the company, who have agreed to a significant writeoff of their debt and to provide new capital.

Screenvision — Certain lenders of the Abry Partners-backed company have organized with Gibson Dunn to negotiate ahead of its $201.5m in loans that are set to mature in 2025.

SI Group — Following an LME with a majority of its existing creditors on board and its sponsor providing $100m of capital, the company’s public exchange offer for the remaining debt has seen meaningful participation.

Sinclair Broadcast Group — The company announced that it is increasing its advertising guidance for the third quarter 2024 to account for stronger-than-expected political revenues. Recent retransmission agreement renewal activity has been in-line with expectations and the company reiterated its earlier forecast for net trans growth rate from 2023 through 2025.

Sotheby’s — The Patrick Drahi-owned auction house, with its own non-Altice troubles, is reportedly set to use around $700m of $1bn contributed by Drahi and the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company to pay down its debt.

Springs Window Fashions — The Clearlake-backed window treatment company retained advisors to engage with creditors who have organized into two groups, both with cooperation agreements in place.

STG Logistics — 9fin reported the details of the recent LME deal.

Sunnova Energy — The 2026 and 2028 bonds of the residential and commercial solar company rose after executives outlined a plan to raise cash through securitizations and asset sales to pay off existing debt. 9fin had reported in May on the company hiring advisors and agreeing to several funding deals.

System1 — We delve into the asset stripping LME the marketing company completed earlier this year in conjunction with a merger under section 251 of the Delaware General Corporation Law.

TeamHealth — The healthcare staffing firm has completed its latest refinancing with the help of new money provided by firms including Ares, King Street, and its sponsor Blackstone.

Telesat Canada — The Canadian satellite company posted expected declines in revenue, EBITDA and margins in Q2 24. Certain creditors were earlier reported to have hired advisors.

The Container Store — The storage solutions company announced an agreement for a $40m investment from Beyond, Inc (fka Overstock). 9fin had reported in June that certain TCS lenders are getting legal advice as the retailer faces a term loan maturity in 2026 and an uncertain earnings trajectory.

Thrive Pet Care — The company hired a financial advisor to examine options for its debt stack, 9fin reported. Meanwhile, a group of first lien lenders has retained counsel as they brace for potential negotiations with the TSG Consumer Partners-backed company, sources said.

Tosca Services — The plastic crate maker got 100% of lenders to participate in a private exchange deal by the 22 August deadline. Previously, 9fin reported that Tosca launched a deal to raise $100m and to extend debt maturities via an uptier LME-style transaction.

Tropicana — The beverage company’s loan slipped several points after its management projected flat full-year 2024 EBITDA on a 16 September call.

Top loan movers (link to full screener on 9fin)

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