Dynata Announces Full Emergence from Prepackaged Chapter 11

Dynata Exits court-supervised restructuring process with significantly deleveraged balance sheet and new financing to support the Company's transformation plan

SHELTON, Conn., July 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynata, LLC ("Dynata" or the "Company"), the most trusted source for reliable, accurate first-party data, announced today full emergence from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing with a significantly improved capital structure and marking another milestone towards advancing the Company's business transformation. The Company's emergence from Chapter 11 comes just five weeks after filing.

As a result of the prepackaged Chapter 11 filing, Dynata reduced almost 40% of its total debt from approximately $1.3 billion to $780 million. The Company's new equity owners are a group of institutions led by Bain Capital, certain funds and accounts managed by Black Rock Financial Management, Inc., and investment vehicles advised by First Eagle Alternative Credit. Dynata's new equity owners have provided $81.5 million in total financing to the Company.

Dynata is the largest global provider of first-party consumer insights data. The Company has embarked on a business transformation led by CEO Mike Petrullo. Petrullo joined Dynata in October of 2022 and has focused on continuing to build upon the Company's strengths while taking significant steps to strengthen its operational and financial performance to position Dynata for long-term success.

"Having negotiated several financial restructuring plans in my career, this one stands out; not only for the magnitude of what we accomplished as a business, but also for the expediency at which we achieved it. The strength of our relationship with our new equity owners led by Bain Capital, BlackRock, and First Eagle and their belief in Dynata's distinct advantage in the marketplace was the catalyst to forming our prepackaged plan and moving so swiftly through the Chapter 11 process, and I am excited about what is to come," said Petrullo. "At Dynata we have an unrelenting focus on delivering the highest-quality, fully permissioned first-party consumer insights data. This distinct competitive advantage, coupled with an impeccable focus on customer service, is the cornerstone for delivering the actionable insights that our customers rely on to fuel mission-critical business decisions."

Dynata is renowned for having an unmatched commitment to data quality. In May, Dynata achieved further recognition by winning the overall 2024 I-COM Global Data Creativity Awards, securing first place in the Data Quality category.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is serving as Dynata's legal advisor in connection with the restructuring. Alvarez & Marsal North America, LLC serves as its restructuring advisor and Houlihan Lokey, Inc. serves as its investment banker.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as lead counsel and PJT Partners LP is serving as investment banker to an ad hoc group of controlling first lien lenders in connection with the restructuring.

Vinson & Elkins LLP is serving as lead counsel and Lazard is serving as investment banker to an ad hoc group of controlling second lien lenders in connection with the restructuring.

About Dynata
Dynata is the world's largest first-party data Company for insights, activation and measurement. With a reach that encompasses 70 million consumers and business professionals globally, and an extensive library of individual profile attributes collected through surveys, Dynata is the cornerstone for precise, trustworthy quality data. The Company has built innovative data services and solutions around its robust first-party data offering to bring the voice of the customer to the entire marketing continuum — from uncovering insights to activating campaigns and measuring cross-channel marketing return on investment. Dynata serves more than 6,000 market research, media and advertising agencies, publishers, consulting and investment firms and corporate customers in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Learn more at www.dynata.com.

SOURCE Dynata