CGG ready for next step in recovery as shareholders approve restructuring plan

At a general meeting on Monday, shareholders at the French seismic player CGG approved all resolutions required to implement the company’s financial restructuring plan.

The next step in the CGG group’s financial restructuring will be the sanctioning of the safeguard plan by the Paris Commercial Court, CGG said on Monday.

For this purpose, a court hearing will be held on November 20, 2017 in order to examine the draft safeguard plan and the claim filed against it by certain holders of convertible bonds.

Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO of CGG, said: “We thank the shareholders for their decisive support for the future of the company. This favorable vote is a new key step forward in the implementation of our financial restructuring. This financial restructuring will allow us to have a financial structure tailored to the difficult market conditions that we are currently facing. CGG has now been repositioned on high value added geosciences activities, and all our teams are entirely focused on delivering the best services to our clients.”

Trading on the company shares, the 2019 convertible bonds and the 2020 convertible bonds, which has been suspended from November 13 will resume as from November 14 at 9:00am.

Next step for CGG

Now that the shareholders have approved the plan, it remains subject to the sanctioning by the French commercial court. If the court also approves, the plan should be implemented in the first quarter of 2018.

When it comes to those holders that filed the claim against the plan, they challenged the treatment of their claims under the safeguard plan, arguing that the differences in treatment between the holders of convertible bonds and the holders of senior notes was not justified by the differences in their situations and would be, in any event, disproportionate.

The company, on the other hand, considers that the holders of convertible bonds are not in the same situation as the senior notes holders, in particular regarding the guarantees given to the latter, and hence the differentiated treatment provided for under the safeguard plan complies with law.

Should this claim be declared well founded by the court, the court could not adopt the safeguard plan insofar as it does not have the power to modify its terms.

Ahead of the meeting on Monday, CGG posted a net loss of $124.4 million for 3Q 2017 on revenues of $320 million. This compares to $88 million net loss and revenues of $264 million in the prior-year third quarter.

Offshore Energy Today Staff