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Energy XXI Ltd

US:EXXIQ
No current share price held for this company.

Past year: ▼ 98%(2.50c – 1.01 USD)

Market cap
—
Shares on issue
—
Story beats
53 since 2008
Last event
29 June 2017

History

Energy XXI grew from a Gulf of Mexico shelf producer into a debt-heavy giant, then lost its equity in a 2016 Chapter 11 after the 2014 EPL deal.

2008-2009: Crisis and a costly debt swap

In May 2008 Energy XXI offered holders of its 77,264,872 outstanding $5.00 warrants (rights to buy shares) the chance to swap them for common shares. In September it declared its first-ever quarterly dividend, $0.005 per share. In December 2008 its bank credit facility stood at $400 million, with $280 million drawn and $102 million of cash.

The financial crisis changed that quickly. In March 2009 the lenders cut the facility to $240 million, and by September the first-lien borrowing base (the amount banks will lend against its reserves) was down to $199 million. The company responded with a distressed debt exchange. In November 2009 it swapped $347.5 million of its 10% Senior Notes for $278 million of new 16% Second Lien Notes. It also sold $60 million more of those notes plus 13.2 million new shares in a private placement. This cut debt somewhat, but replaced cheap debt with expensive debt.

2009-2010: Mitsui assets and the Exxon deal

Even while repairing its balance sheet, Energy XXI agreed in November 2009 to buy Gulf of Mexico shelf interests from Mitsui subsidiary MitEnergy for $283 million. The assets added 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of production. To fund it, the company launched offerings of 90 million common shares and $75 million of convertible preferred stock.

Through 2010 it kept turning preferred stock into common and raised more equity, including 9.5 million shares and $200 million of new preferred in October, to buy back its 16% notes and repay bank debt. The borrowing base had recovered to $350 million. In November 2010 it agreed to its largest deal, a $1.012 billion purchase of nine shelf fields from ExxonMobil and Mobil affiliates. It was funded by a term loan, revolver borrowings, cash and $750 million of new 9.25% notes due 2017. The deal closed on December 17, 2010, adding about 20,000 barrels a day, and brought roughly $200 million of well-plugging and abandonment obligations.

2011-2013: Cheaper debt, bigger facility

With credit markets improving, the company refinanced at ever lower rates. In February 2011 it raised $250 million of 7.75% notes to repay bank debt and buy back its remaining 10% notes. By May 2011 the 16% second-lien debt was fully retired and the borrowing base had risen to $750 million. It reached $825 million in October 2012 and $850 million in April 2013, when total commitments hit $1.7 billion. In September 2013 it sold $500 million of 7.50% notes due 2021, and the borrowing base rose to $1.0875 billion. In November it raised $400 million of 3.0% convertible notes.

2014: The EPL merger

In March 2014 Energy XXI agreed to buy EPL Oil & Gas, with EPL holders receiving about 65% cash and 35% stock, leaving existing Energy XXI holders with about 75% of the combined company. The borrowing base rose to $1.2 billion in April, and the company sold $650 million of 6.875% notes due 2024 to help pay. Shareholders voted on May 30, and the deal closed on June 3, 2014. The borrowing base reached an all-time high of $1.5 billion. Shares on issue rose from 71.5 million at the end of 2013 to 94.4 million at the end of 2014. By September, with oil prices falling, the company needed lenders to loosen its leverage covenant (a limit on debt relative to earnings) from 3.5x to 4.25x.

2015: Distress deepens

In February 2015 director James LaChance was named interim Chief Strategic Officer to negotiate with lenders and noteholders. In March the lenders cut off dividends to the parent and set the facility to shrink from about $1.5 billion to $500 million. The company priced $1.45 billion of 11% second lien notes at a 12% yield, its most expensive financing in years. In June it agreed to sell the Grand Isle Gathering System for $245 million and lease it back for 11 years at about $40.5 million a year; the sale closed on July 1. In September it said it would restate FY2011 to FY2014 results over hedge-accounting paperwork, which it described as non-cash with no effect on liquidity. In November lenders loosened the secured-debt leverage covenant again.

2016-2017: Bankruptcy and the end of the parent

Nasdaq warned in March 2016 that the stock had traded below $1.00. EPL missed a February interest payment, and in March the main subsidiary also missed interest on two note issues, with the borrowing base cut to $377.7 million. On April 14, 2016, Energy XXI Ltd, Energy XXI Gulf Coast, EPL and other subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 in Texas with a Restructuring Support Agreement. Nasdaq delisted the shares on April 20. The plan gave second lien noteholders 87.8% of the new equity and reserved 11.6% for a creditor trust, while existing common and preferred stock received nothing. The court confirmed the plan on December 13, 2016. Reorganized Energy XXI Gulf Coast became the new parent holding substantially all the assets. A Form 15 ending SEC reporting was filed on December 30, then withdrawn on February 13, 2017. As of that date the Bermuda parent was in liquidation, with John C. McKenna as Provisional Liquidator and modified reporting.

Written from the 53 story beats below (2008 to 29 June 2017), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.

Beat by beat

The events that changed the company's story, in plain English, each written against everything known about the company at the time. The dot shows whether it was good, bad or neutral for shareholders.

shares on issue market cap (log scale)

201797.8m shares

  1. 29 June

    Energy XXI Ltd terminated the registration of a class of securities, ending its reporting obligation for them.

    listing compliance notice

    97.8m sh

201697.8m shares · US$2.4m market cap

  1. 30 Dec

    Energy XXI Ltd terminated the registration of a class of securities, ending its reporting obligation for them.

    listing compliance notice

    97.8m shUS$2.4m
  2. 15 Dec

    The Bankruptcy Court confirmed Energy XXI's Chapter 11 plan on December 13, 2016, targeting an effective date by year-end. Under the plan, reorganized Energy XXI Gulf Coast becomes the new parent holding substantially all of the group's assets, revolving-credit claims convert into a new three-year exit facility, and Energy XXI Ltd's existing common and preferred equity is wiped out entirely - marking the effective end of the Bermuda parent entity that had built the company from a single Gulf of Mexico shelf operator into a $3.6 billion-debt, multi-billion-dollar producer over eight years, undone by the leverage taken on for the 2014 EPL acquisition just before oil prices collapsed.

    debt financing

    97.8m shUS$12.5m
  3. 13 Sept

    Energy XXI and its second lien noteholders finalized the recovery terms of the reorganization plan: unsecured trade and general claims got modestly better payouts, and the equity split in the reorganized company was set at 87.8% for second lien noteholders, small slices for unsecured noteholders, and 11.6% reserved for a creditor trust - with existing common and preferred stock still receiving nothing.

    debt financing

    97.8m shUS$3.9m
  4. 19 May

    Energy XXI Ltd's exchange filed to remove a class of its securities from listing.

    listing compliance notice

    97.5m shUS$10.9m
  5. 20 Apr

    Nasdaq moved to delist Energy XXI's stock (EXXI) following the bankruptcy filing and its prior minimum-bid-price violation; the company chose not to appeal, and its shares were expected to move to the thinly-traded OTC Pink market.

    listing compliance notice

    97.5m shUS$60.7m
  6. 14 Apr

    Energy XXI Ltd, Energy XXI Gulf Coast, EPL Oil & Gas and other subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 14, 2016 in the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 16-31928), backed by a pre-negotiated Restructuring Support Agreement with holders of its 11.000% second lien notes. Under the planned reorganization, existing common and preferred stock would be wiped out entirely, with the second lien noteholders receiving 100% of the new company's equity - the culmination of the borrowing-base and covenant crisis that had been building since the EPL-driven leverage peak in mid-2014.

    bankruptcy or receivership

    97.5m shUS$60.7m
  7. 15 Mar

    The crisis widened into a broad default wave: Energy XXI Gulf Coast missed interest on both its 6.875% notes and 11.000% second lien notes, and EPL again missed interest on its 8.25% notes, with lenders granting only a one-month waiver while slashing the revolving facility's borrowing base from $500 million to $377.7 million - effectively eliminating any remaining borrowing capacity beyond existing letters of credit.

    debt financing

    95.5m shUS$35.5m
  8. 4 Mar

    Subsidiary EPL Oil & Gas missed the February 15, 2016 interest payment on its 8.25% notes - Energy XXI's first actual payment default - and lenders granted only a brief waiver through mid-March, meanwhile barring new borrowings under the credit facility and requiring loan proceeds to be swept into a lender-controlled account.

    debt financing

    95.5m shUS$35.5m
  9. 1 Mar

    Nasdaq warned Energy XXI (EXXI) that its stock had traded below the $1.00 minimum bid price for 30 straight days, starting a 180-day clock to regain compliance by August 2016.

    listing compliance notice

    95.5m shUS$35.5m

201595.0m shares · US$149m market cap

  1. 30 Nov

    With EBITDA collapsing alongside oil prices, Energy XXI's lenders dramatically loosened the secured-debt leverage covenant - allowing it to rise from a suspended level to 3.75x, then to 4.75x by March 2016 and as high as 5.25x by mid-2016 - rather than the company actually deleveraging, while holding the borrowing base flat at $500 million.

    debt financing

    95.0m shUS$149m
  2. 8 Sept

    Energy XXI disclosed it would restate four years of annual financials (FY2011-FY2014) and multiple quarters after finding its hedge-accounting documentation didn't meet the technical requirements for cash-flow-hedge treatment, forcing derivative gains and losses to be reclassified from other comprehensive income into earnings. The company said the restatement was a non-cash, presentation-only issue with no effect on liquidity, EBITDA or debt covenants - but it was still a multi-year accounting control failure surfacing just as the company's finances were under real strain.

    financial restatement

    94.6m shUS$180m
  3. 1 July

    The Grand Isle Gathering System sale-leaseback closed for $245 million, locking Energy XXI into a new fixed obligation averaging $40.5 million a year in lease payments over the 11-year term - a real ongoing cash drain layered onto an already strained balance sheet just as oil prices kept falling.

    debt financing

    94.6m shUS$249m
  4. 23 June

    Under mounting cash pressure, Energy XXI agreed to sell its Grand Isle Gathering System - Gulf of Mexico shelf pipeline and onshore processing infrastructure - to CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust subsidiary Grand Isle Corridor for $245 million plus assumption of a $12.5 million abandonment liability, immediately leasing it back for 11 years so operations continue uninterrupted - a sale-leaseback raising cash by monetizing core infrastructure rather than new financing.

    material agreement

    94.4m shUS$327m
  5. 18 Mar

    Energy XXI closed the $1.45 billion second-lien notes offering, netting about $1.35 billion at a steep discount - expensive but critical financing used to term out the revolving facility that was otherwise facing shrinking borrowing-base capacity.

    debt financing

    94.4m shUS$448m
  6. 9 Mar

    Energy XXI priced $1.45 billion of new 11.000% senior secured second lien notes at a 12.000% yield to maturity - by far its most expensive financing yet, a stark jump from the 6.875% it paid just ten months earlier, underscoring how quickly its cost of capital had deteriorated as oil prices fell.

    debt financing

    94.4m shUS$448m
  7. 6 Mar

    Energy XXI's lenders sharply tightened the credit agreement: dividends to the parent were cut off (with a narrow carve-out to distribute the Grand Isle gathering system), asset-sale proceeds now required lender consent and had to be held in pledged accounts, and - most strikingly - the facility itself was set to shrink from roughly $1.5 billion to just $500 million once further conditions were met, with a new intercompany loan mechanism to funnel cash to EPL. Barely nine months after the EPL deal pushed borrowing capacity to its all-time peak, the credit facility was already being unwound.

    debt financing

    94.4m shUS$448m
  8. 25 Feb

    With oil prices sliding, Energy XXI's board named director James LaChance interim Chief Strategic Officer specifically to negotiate with lenders and noteholders on alternative financing to fix the company's leverage and debt maturities - paying him $200,000/month plus a success fee of up to $6 million if he landed a financing deal, an unmistakable sign the board saw a real refinancing crisis ahead.

    material agreement

    94.4m shUS$278m

201493.9m shares · US$1.55bn market cap

  1. 9 Sept

    As oil prices began falling in late 2014, Energy XXI needed its lenders to loosen its leverage covenant from 3.5x to 4.25x EBITDA (stepping back down to 4.0x by mid-2015), having already required a waiver for the prior two quarters - the first sign of covenant strain since the EPL acquisition pushed leverage to its peak.

    debt financing

    93.9m shUS$1.55bn
  2. 4 June

    The EPL Oil & Gas acquisition closed June 3, 2014, and Energy XXI's credit facility borrowing base was pushed to an all-time high of $1.5 billion, including a $475 million subfacility EPL immediately drew to refinance its own existing debt. This marked the peak of Energy XXI's leveraged growth-by-acquisition strategy - built up over four years of cheap credit, just as oil prices were about to turn down sharply in the second half of 2014.

    asset acquisition disposition

    70.3m shUS$1.51bn
  3. 29 May

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast closed the $650 million 6.875% notes offering, completing the bond financing for the EPL acquisition just before it closed.

    debt financing

    70.3m shUS$1.68bn
  4. 15 May

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast priced $650 million of 6.875% senior unsecured notes due 2024 - upsized from an originally planned $300 million - to help fund the EPL Oil & Gas acquisition.

    material agreement

    70.3m shUS$1.68bn
  5. 21 Apr

    Energy XXI and EPL issued the final joint proxy statement/prospectus for the EPL merger, dated April 21, 2014 and first mailed on or about April 23. Terms are unchanged: EPL holders choose 0.584 share plus $25.35 cash, $39.00 cash, or 1.669 shares, prorated to about 65% cash and 35% stock, with existing Energy XXI holders owning about 75% afterwards. Energy XXI shareholders vote on May 30, 2014 on issuing the shares and on electing Scott A. Griffiths as a class II director. Executive officers and directors holding about 3.9% have agreed to vote in favour.

    business combination

    70.3m shUS$1.66bn
  6. 7 Apr

    Energy XXI's credit facility borrowing base rose again to $1.2 billion (from $1.0875 billion), and the agreement was updated to accommodate the 7.50% notes and expand unsecured-debt capacity - building balance-sheet room ahead of the EPL Oil & Gas acquisition.

    debt financing

    70.3m shUS$1.66bn
  7. 1 Apr

    Energy XXI filed its registration statement for the planned acquisition of EPL Oil & Gas under a March 12, 2014 merger agreement. EPL holders would receive about 65% cash and 35% Energy XXI stock, with options such as 0.584 share plus $25.35 cash, or $39.00 cash, or 1.669 shares; existing Energy XXI holders were expected to own about 75% afterwards. A shareholder vote on issuing the shares was required. This is the deal that later closed in June 2014.

    business combination

    70.3m shUS$1.66bn
  8. 13 Mar

    Energy XXI agreed to acquire EPL Oil & Gas in a cash-and-stock merger, with EPL shareholders able to choose between roughly $39.00 cash per share or Energy XXI stock (pro-rated to a 65% cash / 35% stock overall mix), expanding its board to seven directors to add an EPL representative - a major scale-up of its Gulf of Mexico shelf position just as oil prices were near their post-2010 highs.

    business combination

    70.3m shUS$1.63bn

201375.8m shares · US$2.20bn market cap

  1. 22 Nov

    Energy XXI raised $400 million (after an over-allotment exercise) through 3.0% convertible senior notes due 2018 - its cheapest financing yet, netting about $390.7 million.

    capital raising announcement

    75.8m shUS$2.20bn
  2. 27 Sept

    Energy XXI's credit facility borrowing base jumped again, to $1.0875 billion from $850 million, alongside minor technical adjustments to LIBOR loan mechanics.

    debt financing

    75.8m shUS$2.01bn
  3. 26 Sept

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast raised $500 million more via 7.50% senior unsecured notes due 2021 - its lowest coupon yet, extending its string of progressively cheaper refinancings.

    debt financing

    75.8m shUS$2.01bn
  4. 10 Apr

    Energy XXI's lenders raised total commitments to $1.7 billion and the borrowing base to $850 million, cut interest margins, and extended maturity from December 2014 to April 2018. The amendment also tripled the permitted unsecured debt basket to $750 million from $250 million.

    debt financing

    79.4m shUS$2.16bn

201279.3m shares · US$2.77bn market cap

  1. 15 Oct

    Energy XXI's credit facility borrowing base was raised again, to $825 million, reflecting the growing value of its reserve base.

    debt financing

    79.3m shUS$2.77bn

201176.5m shares · US$1.64bn market cap

  1. 4 Oct

    Energy XXI loosened several credit-agreement terms: easier dividend/distribution rules, letting its own petroleum engineers (rather than an independent firm) prepare the annual reserve report subject only to third-party audit, and removing the minimum commodity-hedging requirement on proved developed producing reserves - trading some conservatism for flexibility just as the company's asset base (and storm exposure) was growing, with the required hurricane-season cash reserve doubled to $50 million in acknowledgment of that risk.

    debt financing

    76.5m shUS$1.64bn
  2. 6 May

    Energy XXI refreshed its whole credit facility with a Second Amended and Restated First Lien Credit Agreement: the borrowing base rose to $750 million, interest margins dropped, and all references to the 16% second-lien debt were deleted because it had been fully retired - confirming the crisis-era high-cost debt was gone. The new agreement also raised the cap on dividend payments up to the parent (for preferred stock payments) to $17 million a year and let the company pay up to $50 million annually to a new Bermuda-based captive insurer.

    debt financing

  3. 28 Feb

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast formally issued the $250 million of 7.75% senior unsecured notes due 2019 under a new indenture, completing that refinancing round.

    debt financing

  4. 11 Feb

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast raised another $250 million, this time at a lower 7.75% rate via senior unsecured notes due 2019, to repay revolver debt and buy back its remaining 10% Senior Notes due 2013 - continuing to refinance its capital structure at progressively cheaper rates as credit markets improved.

    debt financing

2010

  1. 22 Dec

    The Exxon acquisition closed on December 17, 2010 for $1.012 billion, adding about 20,000 boe/day of production (53% oil), roughly 66 million barrels of proved and probable reserves, and 130,853 net offshore acres - a transformational addition to Energy XXI's Gulf of Mexico shelf position.

    asset acquisition disposition

  2. 22 Dec

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast formally issued the $750 million of 9.25% senior unsecured notes due 2017 under a new indenture, completing the bond financing behind the Exxon acquisition.

    debt financing

  3. 6 Dec

    Energy XXI Gulf Coast priced $750 million of new 9.25% senior unsecured notes due 2017 to help fund the Exxon acquisition and pay down revolver borrowings.

    debt financing

  4. 23 Nov

    To finance the Exxon acquisition, Energy XXI's lenders agreed to massively expand its credit facility - revolving commitments to $925 million, borrowing base to $700 million, letter-of-credit capacity to $300 million, maturity extended four years - and to permit up to $1 billion of additional unsecured debt to fund the deal and retire the remaining 16% and 10% notes, contingent on the Exxon deal closing.

    debt financing

  5. 22 Nov

    Energy XXI agreed to its largest deal yet: a $1.012 billion cash purchase of nine shallow-water Gulf of Mexico shelf fields from ExxonMobil and Mobil affiliates, sitting between its existing South Timbalier and Main Pass operations. The deal is to be financed with a $450 million term loan, $350 million of revolver borrowings and cash on hand, and comes with a roughly $200 million estimated plugging-and-abandonment liability and a $225 million standby letter of credit to cover it - a transformational scale-up that also loads the company with major legacy decommissioning obligations.

    material agreement

  6. 22 Nov

    Lenders waived credit-agreement covenants to let Energy XXI Gulf Coast use about $133 million of the October equity-raise proceeds to redeem its 16% Second Lien Notes (by March 2011) and, once those were retired, its 10% Senior Notes (by September 2011) - the mechanics behind the ongoing high-cost-debt payoff.

    debt financing

  7. 27 Oct

    Energy XXI launched another round of equity raises - 9.5 million common shares plus $200 million of new convertible preferred stock - earmarked to buy back $119 million of its expensive 16% Second Lien Notes and repay $91.5 million of revolver debt, continuing to unwind the costly 2009 crisis-era financing.

    capital raising announcement

  8. 18 Oct

    Confirming the recovery from its 2009 crisis-era lows, Energy XXI's credit facility borrowing base was back up to $350 million, and lenders amended the agreement to let Gulf Coast fund up to $25 million to induce early conversion of the 7.25% preferred stock and up to $9 million a year for preferred dividends - directly financing the deleveraging program underway.

    debt financing

  9. 15 Oct

    Energy XXI expanded the preferred-stock conversion program, exchanging another 347,500 preferred shares for common stock, cutting the outstanding preferred balance to 680,500 shares.

    capital raising announcement

2009

  1. 1 Dec

    Energy XXI launched concurrent public offerings of 90 million common shares and $75 million of convertible preferred stock to fund the MitEnergy acquisition, alongside underwriter over-allotment options.

    capital raising announcement

  2. 24 Nov

    Even while restructuring its balance sheet, Energy XXI agreed to buy Gulf of Mexico shelf interests from Mitsui subsidiary MitEnergy for $283 million (about $263 million net after adjustments) - mostly non-operated stakes in the same fields it had bought from Pogo Producing in 2007, adding 8,000 boe/day of production (77% oil) with hedges locked in at $73.46/barrel, to be funded with new equity, cash and bank debt.

    material agreement

  3. 19 Nov

    Energy XXI completed the exchange, swapping $347.5 million of its 10% Senior Notes for $278 million of new 16% Second Lien Notes and raising $60 million more of those notes plus 13.2 million new shares in a concurrent private placement - cutting total face debt somewhat but replacing cheap 10% debt with expensive 16% secured paper, a costly but necessary trade during the crisis.

    debt financing

  4. 24 Sept

    This amends a Sept 2009 report to add an omitted item reference, and restates the terms of the 2009 debt swap: a bank amendment letting Energy XXI Gulf Coast issue 16% Second Lien Notes, an offer to exchange them for up to $347.5 million of its existing senior notes, and a private sale of $60.0 million of the new notes plus 13,224,720 common shares. The bank borrowing base would be set at $199.0 million once the conditions are met. This is the start of the 2009 crisis-era refinancing, with closing planned for October 5, 2009.

    listing compliance notice

  5. 23 Sept

    With its first-lien borrowing base already cut to $199 million, Energy XXI amended its credit agreement to clear the way for a distressed debt exchange: swapping at least $311 million of its existing 10% Senior Notes for new 16% Second Lien Notes at a discount (up to $0.80 on the dollar), raising $50 million of fresh cash, and using $41 million of it to pay down bank debt - a real deleveraging move forced by tightening credit conditions during the financial crisis.

    debt financing

  6. 31 Mar

    The next borrowing-base redetermination cut Energy XXI's revolving credit facility sharply, from $400 million to $240 million, as the 2008-2009 financial crisis and collapsing oil prices hit lender risk appetite - the company expected to end up fully drawn with only $61 million of cash on hand, a real tightening of its liquidity cushion.

    debt financing

2008

  1. 15 Dec

    Energy XXI's semi-annual borrowing-base redetermination kept its revolving credit facility at $400 million, with $280 million drawn and $388 million still available (excluding a $12 million slice Lehman Brothers had committed but, post-collapse, couldn't fund) plus $102 million cash on hand - comfortable liquidity heading into the financial crisis.

    debt financing

  2. 10 Sept

    Energy XXI declared its first-ever quarterly dividend, $0.005 per share, marking the company's transition to returning cash to shareholders.

    dividend declaration

  3. 12 May

    Energy XXI filed a registration statement offering holders of its 77,264,872 outstanding $5.00 warrants the chance to swap them for common shares, either 1 share per 5 warrants with no cash, 2 shares per 3 warrants plus $6.35 cash, or 1 share per warrant plus $4.00 cash. The offer was set to expire June 20, 2008. For shareholders, exercising or swapping warrants would mean new shares being issued (an inference on dilution; the filing excerpt does not quantify it).

    business combination