Intelsat seeks Chapter 11 extension
August 16, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Intelsat, in a comprehensive motion filed August 13th with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction court, is asking the court to extend its bankruptcy timetable.
Intelsat says that considerable progress is being made via mediation between the various parties, including SES. Intelsat says: “With the support and guidance of the Mediator, [we] have exhaustively reviewed and considered every significant creditor proposal in mediation and pushed their divergent stakeholders to resolve issues. The mediation is confidential, and therefore, [we] cannot describe in detail the numerous proposals and term sheets that have been exchanged, and phone calls, video conferences, and in-person meetings that have occurred in the nearly four months since mediation began”.
“To that end,” says Intelsat, “additional consensus is slowly, but surely, forming as some of the parties reach agreement in principle on key terms. [We] believe that they are close to reaching additional consensus on the terms of an amended plan that will build on the consensus of the originally-filed Plan. What the parties need now is not a premature end to exclusivity, which could lead to extensive litigation, competing plans, and confusion, but rather to remain focused on finishing the hard work that has been accomplished to date in mediation and throughout these cases.”
“The mediation sessions and negotiations resulted in multiple proposals outlining the key economic terms for a potential amended chapter 11 plan. Several of the Debtors’ key constituencies were in active discussions with each other, both directly and through the Mediator,” adds Intelsat.
Consequently, Intelsat is asking the court to extend by about three months the periods during which [Intelsat] have the exclusive right to file a chapter 11 plan through and including November 13th 2021. It is also asking for the Solicitation Exclusivity Period to be extended to January 13th 2022.
Intelsat outlined in its motion that plenty of other businesses in bankruptcy have extended their exit process to 2 years (and beyond) prior to wrapping up a reconstruction, and it has told the court that its situation is extraordinarily complex. It entered Chapter 11 on May 13th 2020.
Intelsat has some $14.5 billion in debt obligations, but says despite the complexity of its case and the claims they have made “substantial progress” since the last extension and have continued to expend extraordinary efforts to steer these cases towards a successful resolution.