History
A small healthcare-claims firm financed by shareholder loans became an oil and gas company in 2013, then faced losing its only asset to its lender in 2015.
2006-2012: A claims business living on loans
The company that became TransCoastal began as Claimsnet.com, a healthcare claims-processing business. The record for these years is thin. In July 2006 its exchange filed to remove a class of its securities from listing, and in December 2006 it signed a new revenue-sharing agreement with MedAvant, a 10% customer, ending a 2002 services deal. In February 2008 it bought the assets of Acceptius, Inc. for $25,000 cash, 1,700,000 restricted shares and a further $5,000 owed.
The company leaned on related parties and shareholders for money. In March 2008 it borrowed $500,000 from Elmira United Corp. through two convertible notes, and another $200,000 followed in May. A $100,000 note from National Financial Corporation was reset to be payable on demand. In September 2010 it borrowed $50,000 from a division of Elmira United to pay a retainer to Blackhawk Partners, hired to find financing, possibly tied to a merger or acquisition. In May 2011 it borrowed $40,000 more from National Financial and corrected a first-quarter 2011 report that had wrongly booked a $138,000 impairment loss. Shares on issue stayed at about 34.9 million through 2011.
2013: The oil and gas takeover
In March 2013 Claimsnet agreed to buy TransCoastal Corporation, a Texas oil and gas exploration and production company, in a deal that would hand TransCoastal's owners control. In April the payment changed from common shares to up to 4,000,000 Series F preferred shares. The deal closed on May 9, 2013: 3,721,036 Series F preferred shares were issued for 93.03% of TransCoastal's common stock, carrying about 99.2% of the votes. The company's business became Texas oil and gas, with Barnett shale and Pampa-area oil properties.
The old business was then removed. On June 27, 2013 the claims subsidiary ANC Holdings was sold to debt holders in exchange for cancelling about $1.5 million of debt. A 200-to-1 reverse split and the name change to TransCoastal Corporation took effect on July 1. On July 30 the preferred shares were converted into 21,154,478 restricted common shares. That, together with the reverse split, explains the swing in shares on issue, which stood at 22,453,773 at the end of 2013. In November the company signed a $5,000,000 equity line with Kodiak Capital Group and gave Kodiak 256,410 restricted shares; no money was committed until registration, and the record does not show it was used.
2014: Restatements and a loan in trouble
Trouble came in 2014. In May the company said its 2013 and 2012 statements could not be relied on because of an error in reserve estimates and depletion expense. Restated 2013 net loss rose to $4,053K, and 2012 net income fell to $1,036K. In June it said notes payable had been wrongly shown as long-term: some lenders had not waived their right to call the loan, so about $17.1 million (December 2013) and $16.8 million (March 2014) moved to current liabilities. Days later, auditor Rothstein Kass resigned, and Whitley Penn was approved again; both years' reports had carried a going concern warning.
The company sought other money. Effective June 30, 2014 it borrowed $1,500,000 from Dalton Lott, father-in-law of CEO Stuart Hagler, at 5.5% interest, guaranteed personally by three executives. On July 30 it signed a joint venture with Core Resource Management to drill up to ten wells at Pampa, with Core paying drilling and completion costs up to $475,000 per well. Shares on issue rose to 29,334,264 by year end, though the record does not explain the increase.
2015: Handing the keys to the lender
On February 20, 2015 the company signed a forbearance agreement with Melody Business Finance, which had taken over the $15,750,000 May 2011 Green Bank loan due June 1, 2015. Melody agreed not to act on defaults, interest became 15% paid in kind, and the company had to pursue a plan of reorganization. In April a Ninth Amendment lifted the principal to $16,729,200.78 and extended forbearance to June 1. Second-quarter 2015 revenue was $202K, with a net loss of $1.3M.
On October 9, 2015 a Tenth Amendment raised the loan commitments to $20,245,945.15, alongside a Restructuring Support Agreement. As of October 20, 2015, the plan was a pre-packaged Chapter 11 filing in which Melody would take 100% of the equity in the Texas subsidiary, the company's sole asset. Existing shareholders would receive nothing, unsecured creditors would be paid in full, and the company expected to become a shell. Confirmation had not been reported.
Written from the 21 story beats below (2006 to 20 Oct 2015), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.