HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC.

HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC. suspended its duty to file periodic reports with the SEC.

listing compliance notice

HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC. deregistered its securities, ending its obligation to file reports with the SEC.

listing compliance notice

Hercules and its lender group reached a mediated settlement trimming the first-lien claim from $579 million to $546.5 million and again pushed out the wind-down plan's confirmation deadlines -- the last negotiated step before the liquidation plan was finalized.

asset acquisition disposition

HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC. deregistered its securities, ending its obligation to file reports with the SEC.

listing compliance notice

As part of the wind-down, Hercules agreed to sell three jackup rigs -- Hercules 261, 262 and 266 -- to Egypt's Advanced Energy Systems (ADES) for $65.1 million cash, subject to bankruptcy court approval -- the fleet being sold off piece by piece.

material agreement

HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC.'s exchange filed to remove a class of its securities from listing.

listing compliance notice

Nasdaq notified Hercules it would be delisted following its second Chapter 11 filing, with trading suspended June 15, 2016 and the company not planning to appeal -- the end of Hercules Offshore as a listed company; its stock was expected to move to the OTC Pink market if a market maker would even quote it.

listing compliance notice

Hercules gave up its newest and most valuable asset, transferring the rights and contracts for the newbuild rig Hercules Highlander to a Maersk Drilling subsidiary, a move that itself triggered defaults under its credit facility -- and disclosed that, rather than reorganize again, it would pursue a Chapter 11 wind-down in which shareholders would get only a token payment if they voted to accept the plan.

asset acquisition disposition

Lenders extended Hercules's forbearance to 31 May 2016 but made it terminable on two business days' notice any time after 4 May. Separately, Jurong Shipyard in Singapore warned that Hercules would be in default under the rig construction contract if it did not take delivery of the Hercules Highlander by 5 May - which the forbearance itself prevents, since the escrow that funds the rig stays locked while it runs.

debt default or forbearance

Five months after emerging from Chapter 11 with a $450 million Jefferies-led term loan, Hercules signed a forbearance agreement running only to 28 April 2016: lenders had asserted breaches of two administrative covenants - registering a Nigerian vessel mortgage and winding up a Gibraltar guarantor - which the company says it may have defences to. While the forbearance runs Hercules cannot draw the $200 million held in escrow and so cannot pay for or take delivery of its newbuild rig Hercules Highlander, and it has agreed to negotiate a recapitalisation, sale or loan restructuring with the lenders.

debt default or forbearance

Nasdaq certified HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC.'s securities for listing, clearing them to begin trading.

listing compliance notice

As part of its Chapter 11 disclosures, Hercules released its own financial projections: continued losses through 2016 (including a $287 million 2015 net loss) before an assumed return to profitability in 2017-2018 on a post-restructuring balance sheet carrying about $440 million of long-term debt. (Likely misclassified as production_update: this exhibit is a bankruptcy-related financial projection, not a fleet status report.)

production update

HERCULES OFFSHORE, INC.'s exchange filed to remove a class of its securities from listing.

listing compliance notice

Hercules and its U.S. subsidiaries filed the voluntary Chapter 11 petitions contemplated by June's restructuring agreement, and Nasdaq delisted the stock (which the company did not appeal) -- the first bankruptcy, executed as a pre-negotiated plan expected to wipe out existing equity within 45-60 days while trade creditors are paid in full.

bankruptcy or receivership

Hercules and more than two-thirds of its noteholders agreed to a pre-packaged Chapter 11 restructuring that would wipe out roughly $1.2 billion of notes and its remaining 2038 convertibles in exchange for new equity and $450 million of new first-lien debt (partly to finish the newbuild rig Hercules Highlander) -- the company's first bankruptcy filing is now just a formality away.

debt financing

Nasdaq warned Hercules that its stock had closed below the $1.00 minimum bid price for 30 straight days, starting a 180-day clock (to September 21, 2015) to regain compliance or face delisting -- a classic penny-stock distress signal as the oil-price crash deepened.

listing compliance notice

Hercules disclosed that Angola's Sonangol had rejected three straight proposed local compliance representatives, forcing termination of the Hercules 267's drilling contract there -- the rig had already sat at zero dayrate since April 2014, and losing the contract cuts an estimated $91.8 million from the company's backlog. (Corrected from contract_award: the filing describes a contract termination, not an award.)

material agreement termination

Hercules completed the refinancing, stripping covenants and lien protections from the old 7.125% notes and closing the new $300 million 6.750% notes sale -- the last of its debt-cost improvements before the downturn began.

debt financing

Hercules sold $300 million of 6.750% notes due 2022 to fund a tender offer for its 7.125% secured notes from the 2012 Ocean Columbia financing -- its cost of debt kept falling into early 2014, just before the oil-price crash hit the industry.

debt financing

Hercules completed the refinancing, stripping most covenants from the old 10.50% notes via noteholder consent and closing the new $300 million 7.50% notes sale -- retiring its most expensive crisis-era debt.

debt financing

Hercules sold $300 million of 7.50% notes due 2021 to fund a tender offer for its $300 million of 10.50% notes issued during the 2009 crisis -- a real improvement in its cost of debt.

debt financing

The rig Hercules 265 sustained extensive damage and was pulled from the market -- a real casualty amid an otherwise still-strong rate cycle.

production update

Hercules completed the $400 million notes sale funding its Discovery Offshore acquisition and newbuild rig payments, and separately extended its revolving credit facility to 2018 at reduced pricing -- a rare improvement in credit terms.

debt financing

Hercules agreed to sell $400 million of 8.750% senior notes due 2021, with proceeds (plus ~$104 million from the liftboat/inland-barge sales) earmarked to fund the Discovery Offshore acquisition and a $333.9 million final payment for the newbuild rigs Discovery Triumph and Discovery Resilience.

debt financing

Hercules moved to exit the liftboat business it was built on -- selling its entire U.S. Gulf of Mexico liftboat fleet (29 marketed, 10 cold-stacked) to All Coast, LLC for about $54 million -- while launching a tender offer for the rest of Discovery Offshore S.A., a $400 million note offering, and a buyback that retired all but $7 million of its original 2038 convertible notes: a wholesale repositioning into modern high-spec jackups.

capital raising announcement

Hercules used proceeds from its new $500 million notes to pay off and retire its entire 2007 credit facility (a $140 million revolver and roughly $434 million term loan), completing its refinancing with no penalties.

debt financing

Hercules sold $500 million of new notes -- $300 million secured at 7.125% and $200 million unsecured at 10.25% -- to help pay for the Ocean Columbia rig acquisition; the double-digit coupon on the unsecured tranche shows its borrowing costs were still junk-rated years after the 2009 crisis.

debt financing

Hercules sold 20 million shares (plus a 3 million-share over-allotment option) at $5.10 each to help fund its acquisition of the jackup rig Ocean Columbia -- still raising equity at 2009-crisis-era prices even as it funded a growth purchase.

material agreement

Hercules announced plans to sell 20 million shares of stock (plus a 3 million-share over-allotment option) to help fund its pending acquisition of the drilling rig Ocean Columbia and pay down term-loan debt. (Corrected from production_update: the filing is a stock-offering press release, not a fleet status report.)

capital raising announcement

Hercules landed a major long-term Saudi Aramco contract for one of its rigs -- 907 days at $79-81K, opening the world's largest drilling market to the company -- even as a liftboat (the Mako) was severely damaged in a fire.

production update

The jackup rig Hercules 185, working offshore Angola for Cabinda Gulf Oil (Chevron), was found to have a detached spud can during a routine inspection and will sit at zero dayrate for an estimated six months while it's assessed and repaired, an insured loss subject to a $3.5 million deductible.

drilling progress report

The former Seahawk rigs found steady work with new customers, and Pemex awarded Hercules a four-year Mexico contract at $49-51K -- a significant long-term international win as the recovery broadened.

production update

Hercules closed its acquisition of Seahawk Drilling's 20 Gulf of Mexico jackup rigs, funded with about 22.3 million new Hercules shares plus roughly $25 million cash -- completing the consolidation of a bankrupt competitor's fleet.

asset acquisition disposition

Hercules agreed to buy all 20 jackup rigs of rival Seahawk Drilling out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for $100 million ($25 million cash plus 22.3 million Hercules shares valued at just $3.36 each, versus the $33.95 it had paid for its own stock in 2008) -- consolidating the jackup market as a weaker competitor failed, while also flagging a non-cash impairment on its own cold-stacked rigs amid the post-Macondo drilling slowdown.

capital raising announcement

The fleet report began flagging "regulatory uncertainty in the Gulf of Mexico" for the first time -- the federal drilling moratorium following the Deepwater Horizon spill -- a new headwind layered on top of the still-fragile post-2009 recovery, while an idle international rig sat on a reduced standby rate in Angola.

production update

Hercules completed the $300 million secured notes offering, finishing the string of equity and debt raises it needed to avoid tripping its credit-facility covenants in 2009 -- expensive financing, but the immediate default risk was addressed.

debt financing

Hercules agreed to sell $300 million of 10.50% senior secured notes due 2017, guaranteed by its subsidiaries, with proceeds earmarked to pay down its term loan.

debt financing

Hercules closed out its stock offering with a small over-allotment (1.3 million more shares, ~$6.3 million) and priced its new $300 million notes at a steep 10.50% coupon -- expensive, high-yield-market pricing that reflects the market's view of its credit risk.

capital raising announcement

Hercules announced plans to privately place up to $300 million of senior secured notes due 2017, the next step in shoring up its balance sheet after the covenant-breach warning.

capital raising announcement

Hercules raised roughly $87 million selling 17.5 million shares of stock at $5.00 each -- a fraction of the $33.95 price it paid to buy back stock in 2008 -- to shore up its balance sheet days after warning it could breach its debt covenants.

material agreement

With the drilling downturn underway, Hercules persuaded holders of $45.8 million of its 2038 convertible notes to swap them for 7.76 million new shares, shrinking the notes outstanding to about $95.9 million -- trading dilution for debt reduction, the first sign of balance-sheet stress since the notes were sold in 2008.

capital raising announcement

The cold-stacked list grew sharply -- more than a dozen rigs now idle -- and the rigs still working saw dayrates crushed to $34-46K, a fraction of their 2006-08 highs.

production update

More rigs went cold-stacked and dayrates fell further; remaining contracts averaged just 43 days as customers stopped committing long-term.

production update

Multiple Gulf of Mexico rigs were cold-stacked for the first time this cycle as the crisis hit in full -- dayrates on the remaining working rigs ranged as low as $26-86K with contracts averaging just 55 days, a spot, distressed market replacing the multi-year deals of 2007-08.

production update

A Chevron rig's forward dayrate was cut nearly in half to $51-53K (from $69-71K) -- the first clear sign of the financial crisis and collapsing oil price reaching Hercules's contracts.

production update

Hercules raised $250 million selling 3.375% convertible notes due 2038, using $49.2 million of the proceeds to buy back 1.45 million shares at $33.95 and the rest to pay down its revolver -- new long-dated debt taken on near the top of the offshore drilling cycle.

capital raising announcement

Overall liftboat utilization fell sharply to 51% (from the 70-80% range of recent months), even as a few rigs picked up new short-term Gulf of Mexico work -- a notable air pocket in demand.

production update

Hercules closed its acquisition of TODCO on July 11, 2007, and simultaneously refinanced into a new $1.05 billion credit facility, retiring its original 2005 credit agreement -- the deal that transformed it from a liftboat/small-jackup operator into a much larger drilling company.

asset acquisition disposition

Hercules agreed to acquire TODCO, a much larger jackup drilling company, in a deal worth about $930.7 million cash plus 56.9 million new Hercules shares -- roughly doubling the company's size in its biggest move yet.

business combination

Hercules closed the Halliburton liftboat purchase at $51.6 million, adding 13 liftboats and a Nigeria shore base through new subsidiary Hercules Oilfield Services -- completing its second major West Africa expansion in a year.

asset acquisition disposition

Hercules agreed to buy 8 more liftboats from Halliburton's West Africa operations (plus rights to 5 managed vessels and a Nigeria shore base) for about $50 million plus a three-year earnout, extending its West Africa liftboat push begun with the 2005 Danos deal.

material agreement

Hercules tripled its revolving credit line to $75 million, cut its interest rate and pushed the maturity out to 2010, replacing prior investment caps with a collateral-coverage test -- a sign lenders were comfortable extending more capacity as the company's acquisition-driven growth continued.

material agreement

Hercules agreed to buy five more liftboats (plus one under construction) from Laborde Marine Lifts for $52 million, its second liftboat-fleet purchase in six months.

material agreement

Hercules completed its first major fleet deal since IPO, buying a group of liftboats from Danos Marine for $44 million and gaining its first foothold in Nigeria; one vessel damaged in Hurricane Katrina remains subject to a price adjustment pending the insurance outcome.

asset acquisition disposition