History
Pacific Drilling listed in New York in 2011, then took on more debt and fell into Chapter 11 in 2020, wiping out existing shareholders.
2011-2017: Listing on the NYSE
The record opens in November 2011, when the New York Stock Exchange certified Pacific Drilling S.A.'s securities for listing, clearing them to begin trading. The share count at the end of 2011 was 216,900,000, and it stayed close to that level through 2014. The beats do not explain the jump from the 2010 figure, so it is not narrated here.
The record is then quiet for several years. In October 2017 the exchange filed to remove one class of the company's securities from listing. The beats give no further detail, and they do not explain the later changes in the share count, including the fall to about 21 million at the end of 2015.
2018-2019: Relisting and a quiet stretch
In December 2018 the exchange again certified the company's securities for listing, clearing them to begin trading. The share count at the end of 2018 was 75,031,380, and it was about the same a year later. The beats do not say what lay behind the rise. Nothing else of major note is recorded for 2019.
2020: More debt and a falling share price
On February 7, 2020 the company signed a $50 million revolving credit facility with Angelo, Gordon Energy Servicer, LLC as administrative agent, maturing April 1, 2023. It carried interest at the three-month LIBO rate (with a 1.5% floor) plus 7.5%. It ranked ahead of the existing First Lien Notes due 2023 and Second Lien PIK Notes due 2024 if lenders had to enforce their claims, so it put a new layer of debt in front of the old ones. The same filing said the company had applied to the High Court in London for leave to appeal an arbitration award over the construction contract for the Pacific Zonda.
In April the NYSE warned that the shares had averaged below the $1.00 minimum over 30 trading days. The company had until October 7, 2020 to regain compliance, or suspension and delisting would begin.
2020: Chapter 11 and the end for shareholders
The deadline never mattered. On October 30, 2020 the company signed a restructuring support agreement with some First Lien and Second Lien noteholders and began Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in Houston, plus a parallel Cayman Islands proceeding for subsidiary Pacific Drilling Company Limited. First Lien holders were to receive 91.5% of the new equity. Second Lien holders were to receive 8.5% plus seven-year warrants for 15%, struck at a $750 million equity value. The $50 million Angelo Gordon revolver was repaid in full and terminated, and an exit loan of up to $80 million was lined up. Existing shareholders were to receive nothing.
The NYSE began delisting proceedings on November 2 and suspended trading. From November 3 the shares traded over the counter as PACDQ, and the exchange filed in November to remove the securities from listing. On December 21 the bankruptcy court confirmed the plan, finding the 75,203,391 existing shares to have no value. The old notes were to be cancelled. At year end the company suspended its duty to file periodic reports with the SEC.
As of December 28, 2020 the plan was confirmed but not yet effective, and the company targeted the end of the year without assurance. It had seven drillships, several of them stacked, meaning idled. Open matters included the Zonda arbitration award in favour of Samsung Heavy Industries, and two of the company's subsidiaries were in bankruptcy proceedings.
Written from the 14 story beats below (2011 to 31 Dec 2020), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.