Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

DEBT

v3.20.2
DEBT
6 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
DEBT DEBT
Debt as of September 30 and March 31, 2020 (Successor) consisted of the following (in thousands):
 
 
September 30, 2020
 
March 31,
2020
PK Air Debt
 
$
198,217

 
$
207,326

Macquarie Debt
 
145,232

 
148,165

7.750% Senior Notes (1)
 
137,499

 

Lombard Debt
 
139,399

 
136,180

Promissory notes (2)
 
17,069

 

Airnorth Debt
 
6,624

 
7,618

Humberside Debt
 
329

 
335

Term Loan
 

 
61,500

Total debt
 
644,369

 
561,124

Less short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt
 
(64,027
)
 
(45,739
)
Total long-term debt
 
$
580,342

 
$
515,385


_________________ 
(1) 
The pre-Merger outstanding principal amount of Era’s 7.750% senior unsecured notes as of March 31, 2020 was $142.0 million, net of unamortized discounts and debt issuance costs.
(2) 
The pre-Merger outstanding principal amount of Era’s promissory notes as of March 31, 2020 was $17.9 million.
PK Air Debt During the three and six months ended September 30, 2020 (Successor), the Company made $5.4 million and $10.6 million, respectively, in principal payments on the PK Air debt.
Macquarie Debt During the three and six months ended September 30, 2020 (Successor), the Company made $2.4 million and $4.8 million, respectively, in principal payments on the Macquarie debt.
7.750% Senior Notes — On December 7, 2012, Era Group issued $200.0 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.750% senior unsecured notes due December 15, 2022 (the “7.750% Senior Notes”) and received net proceeds of $191.9 million. Interest on the 7.750% Senior Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on June 15th and December 15th of each year. The 7.750% Senior Notes may be redeemed at any time and from time to time at the applicable redemption prices set forth in the indenture governing the 7.750% Senior Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date. The indenture governing the 7.750% Senior Notes contains covenants that restrict the Company’s ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem the Company’s capital stock, prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt, make loans and investments, sell assets, incur liens, enter into transactions with affiliates, enter into agreements restricting its subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends, and consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets. In addition, upon a specified change of control trigger event or specified asset sale, the Company may be required to repurchase the 7.750% Senior Notes. The payment obligations under the 7.750% Senior Notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by certain of the Company’s subsidiaries.
As of September 30, 2020 (Successor), the 7.750% Senior Notes had a carrying value of $137.5 million on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. In June 2020, in connection with and upon completion of the Merger, Era’s long-term debt less its current maturities were fair valued and a new value of $136.8 million was assigned to the 7.750% Senior Notes.
Lombard Debt During the three and six months ended September 30, 2020 (Successor), the Company made $3.1 million and $6.1 million, respectively, in principal payment on the Lombard debt.
Promissory Notes — In 2010, Era entered into two promissory notes to purchase a heavy and medium helicopter, respectively. In December 2015, upon maturity of the notes, the then outstanding balances of $19.0 million and $5.9 million were refinanced. The notes require monthly principal payments of $0.1 million and less than $0.1 million with final payments of $12.8 million and $4.0 million, respectively. Both promissory notes are due in December 2020.
Term Loan Agreement In connection with the closing of the Merger on June 11, 2020, the Company fully repaid the Term Loan by making $61.5 million in principal payments and $0.6 million in prepayment premiums.
4½% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 Prior to May 11, 2019, the remaining debt discount was being amortized to interest expense over the term of the 4½% Convertible Senior Notes using the effective interest rate. The effective interest rate for April 1, 2019 to May 11, 2019 (Predecessor) was 11.0%. Interest expense related to the 4½% Convertible Senior Notes was as follows (in thousands):
 
Predecessor
 
Six Months Ended September 30, 2019
Contractual coupon interest
$
715

Amortization of debt discount
648

Total interest expense
$
1,363


As of May 11, 2019, Old Bristow determined that the 4½% Convertible Senior Notes were an allowed claim and therefore reclassified the balance to liabilities subject to compromise and discontinued accruing interest on these obligations. Contractual interest on the 4½% Convertible Senior Notes for the three and six months ended September 30, 2019 (Predecessor) was $1.6 million and $3.2 million, which is $1.6 million and $2.5 million in excess of reported interest expense for the three and six months ended September 30, 2019 (Predecessor).
ABL Facility — On April 17, 2018, two of Old Bristow’s subsidiaries entered into an asset-backed revolving credit facility (the “ABL Facility”). The ABL Facility matures in April 2023, subject to certain early maturity triggers related to maturity of other material debt or a change of control of the Company. Amounts borrowed under the ABL Facility are secured by certain accounts receivable owing to the borrower subsidiaries and the deposit accounts into which payments on such accounts receivable are deposited.
On August 18, 2020, the Company entered into a Deed of Amendment and Restatement, Accession, Transfer, Resignation and Confirmation Agreement (the “ABL Amendment”) relating to the ABL Facility (as amended by the ABL Amendment, the “Amended ABL”), by and among the Company, Old Bristow, Bristow Norway AS, Bristow Helicopters Limited and Bristow U.S. LLC, as borrowers and guarantors, the financial institutions from time to time party thereto as lenders and Barclays Bank PLC, in its capacity as agent and security trustee. The ABL Amendment amends the ABL Facility in order to, among other things, (i) make available to the borrowers an additional “last in, last out” tranche of revolving loan commitments available to the borrowers under the Amended ABL in an aggregate amount not to exceed $5.0 million, (ii) replace Old Bristow with the Company as the parent guarantor under the Amended ABL and (iii) permit the accession at a later date of certain domestic subsidiaries of the Company as borrowers under the Amended ABL and the addition of certain of their receivables to the borrowing base and the collateral for the Amended ABL. The interest rates applicable to loans made under the “last in, last out” tranche of revolving commitments under the Amended ABL are equal to either: (a) the ABR (as defined in the Amended ABL) plus 2.50% per annum or (b) LIBOR or NIBOR (each as defined in the Amended ABL) plus 3.50% per annum. Swingline loans made under the “last in, last out” tranche of revolving commitments under the Amended ABL bear interest at the ABR Rate (as defined in the Amended ABL) plus 2.50% per annum. As a result of the ABL Amendment, the Amended ABL provides for commitments in an aggregate amount of $80.0 million. The Company retains the ability under the Amended ABL to increase the total commitments up to a maximum aggregate amount of $115.0 million, subject to the terms and conditions therein.
As of September 30, 2020 (Successor), there were no outstanding borrowings under the Amended ABL nor had the Company made any draws during the three months ended September 30, 2020 (Successor). Letters of credit issued under the Amended ABL in the aggregate face amount of $9.2 million were outstanding on September 30, 2020 (Successor).
LIBOR Transition — In 2020, a number of regulators in conjunction with the FASB and the U.S. Federal Reserve announced their intention to suspend and replace the use of LIBOR by the beginning of calendar year 2021. The effects of this transition from LIBOR to an alternative reference rate may impact the Company’s current indebtedness that is tied to LIBOR, in addition to the potential overall financial market disruption as a result of this phase-out. The Company is currently evaluating the potential effects of this announcement on its underlying debt, but it does not expect the impact to be material.