Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. Completes Financial Restructuring

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq: EGLE) ("Eagle Bulk" or "the Company") today announced that it has successfully completed its court-approved financial restructuring, emerging with a strong balance sheet and significantly enhanced liquidity.

Sophocles N. Zoullas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are very pleased to have concluded our balance sheet restructuring, which has placed the Company in a far stronger position to compete in the cyclical shipping markets.  Eagle Bulk is grateful to our lenders for their strong support in achieving this transformational result on an expedited timeframe, and also to our customers and vendors who supported us during the process.  The Company's employees and crew have also worked tirelessly to ensure Eagle Bulk remains the premier Supramax owner/operator in the world."

The financial restructuring process has enabled Eagle Bulk to reduce its debt obligations by 80%, or approximately $1 billion, as well as greatly lower its annual cash interest expense and significantly enhance liquidity.

Mr. Zoullas continued, "With our new and conservative capital structure in place, an on-the-water quality fleet of 45 vessels, and a best-in-class management platform, Eagle Bulk is uniquely positioned to capitalize on current and future drybulk market fundamentals."

In conjunction with its emergence from the financial restructuring process, Eagle Bulk today closed on a new $275 million exit financing facility, comprised of a $225 million term loan and a $50 million revolving credit facility.  

On September 22, 2014, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York confirmed Eagle Bulk's Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan"), which received the unanimous support of Eagle Bulk's secured lenders. Under the terms of the Plan, the Lenders converted their debt into 99.5% of the new equity in the reorganized Eagle Bulk, subject to dilution, and received a cash distribution from the proceeds of the exit financing facility.

Also, in accordance with the Plan, all existing equity interests in Eagle Bulk have been cancelled, with such equity interests receiving, subject to dilution, 0.5% of new equity in the reorganized Eagle Bulk and seven-year warrants to acquire an additional 7.5% of the new equity in the reorganized Eagle Bulk, subject to dilution.

Court documents and other information for the Company's stakeholders remain available on a dedicated website administered by Eagle Bulk's noticing agent, Kurtzman Carson Consultants, at www.eaglebulkrestructuring.com, or by calling 877-709-4746 (424-236-7227 for international calls). Inquiries may also be emailed to: [email protected].

Eagle Bulk's legal advisor is Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, its financial advisor is Moelis & Company, and its restructuring advisor is Alvarez & Marsal.  

About Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc.

Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. is a Marshall Islands corporation headquartered in New York. The Company is a leading global owner of Supramax dry bulk vessels that range in size from 50,000 to 60,000 deadweight tons and transport a broad range of major and minor bulk cargoes, including iron ore, coal, grain, cement and fertilizer, along worldwide shipping routes.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements.  These forward‑looking statements are based on the current expectations and observations of the Company's management, and include factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, such as:  the Company's ability to meet current operating needs, including its ability to maintain contracts that are critical to its operation, to obtain and maintain acceptable terms with its vendors, customers, and service providers and to retain key executives, managers, and employees; the Company's ability to maintain adequate liquidity to fund operations; the sufficiency of the "exit" financing contemplated by the Plan; the Company's ability in the future to arrange and consummate financing or sale transactions or to access capital; the effects of changes in the Company's credit ratings; the timing and realization of the recoveries of assets and the payments of claims in the prepackaged case and the amount of expenses projected to recognize such recoveries and reconcile such claims; and the other factors listed from time to time in the Company's filings with the SEC, including, without limitation, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and subsequent filings on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.

Nothing in this press release shall constitute an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, any securities of the Company. 

SOURCE Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc.