SDRL - seadrill Announces Forbearance Agreements
Hamilton, Bermuda, 3 February 2021 – seadrill Limited ("seadrill" or the "Company") (OSE:SDRL, OTCQX:SDRLF) announces that it has entered into a forbearance agreement with certain creditors in respect of nine out of the group's twelve senior secured credit facility agreements.
The purpose of the forbearance agreement is to allow the Company and its stakeholders more time to finalise negotiations on the head terms of a comprehensive restructuring of its balance sheet. Such a restructuring may involve the use of a court-supervised process. The Company continues to evaluate capital structure proposals from its financial stakeholders; whilst no agreement has been reached at this point it is expected that potential solutions will lead to significant equitization of debt which is likely to result in minimal or no recovery for current shareholders.
Pursuant to the forbearance agreement, the consenting creditors have agreed not to exercise any voting rights to, or otherwise take actions, in respect of certain events of default that may arise under those senior secured credit facility agreements as a result of the group not making certain interest payments, until and including the earlier of 15 February 2021 and any termination of the forbearance agreement.
Forbearance has not yet been agreed with respect to certain events of default or termination events that may arise under the three remaining senior secured credit agreements, the Company's New Secured Notes, leasing arrangements for the West Hercules, West Linus and West Taurus and a bilateral guarantee facility with Danske Bank. Without a forbearance in respect of these arrangements, a non-payment of interest or other amounts due under the senior secured credit agreements, the Company's New Secured Notes and/or the leasing arrangements could result in the creditors under these arrangements having the right to accelerate or otherwise enforce their rights under them.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business, the markets in which it operates and its restructuring efforts. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodical reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
For further information, please contact:
Media questions should be directed to:
Iain Cracknell
Director of Communications
+44 (0)7765 221 812
Analyst questions should be directed to:
Hawthorn Advisors
+44 (0)203 7454960