CGG’s Equity Raise Is Credit Positive
On Wednesday, France-based oil services company CGG SA (CGG, B3 review for downgrade) announced a
capital increase with preferential subscription rights of up to €350 million, underwritten by existing lenders.
The subscription period will run from 14 January through 27 January. The subscription price is a 71.55%
discount to the closing price (€2.32) of the company’s shares on 11 January. Bpifrance and IFP Energies
Nouvelles, two French public institutions, will subscribe to the capital increase to the level of their 10.62%
combined stake, while Total S.A. (Aa1 stable), a customer, undertook to subscribe, strictly if necessary, for
any new shares that remain unsubscribed at the end of the rights exercise period, up to a maximum amount
of €35 million. Subject to completion of the equity raise, the company’s lenders agreed to a reset of the
leverage financial maintenance covenant and to the extension of the French revolving credit facility
maturity by a year to June 2018.
The equity raise is credit positive for CGG because some proceeds will fund $200 million of costs related to
its transformation plan, while the company will use the rest to strengthen its balance sheet and liquidity as
its oil company clients cut exploration capital expenditures. The maturity extension of the French revolving
credit facility will ease refinancing risk over the next two years because the company will have no material
debt maturities to refinance before 2018, when the French and US revolving credit facilities both mature.
The maturity extension follows a December 2015 refinancing of CGG’s 2017 senior notes and its Fugro
vendor loan with a new senior secured term loan maturing in 2019. The transaction also reduces the threat
of a covenant breach because the leverage financial maintenance covenant under its credit facilities will
increase to 5.00x from 4.00x until 31 December, and then gradually decrease until it reaches 3.00x on 30
June 2018 and thereafter.
In return for the covenant reset, CGG agreed to a minimum group liquidity covenant of $175 million at each
quarter end under its French and US revolving credit facilities (cash and cash equivalents plus undrawn
revolving credit facilities) and to a minimum liquidity covenant of $100 million at all times under its Nordic
credit facility (cash and cash equivalents).
Nonetheless, the oil and gas seismic industry will remain stressed with limited prospects for a recovery while
oil and gas exploration activity remains minimal because of the current excess supply of crude oil. Indeed,
we expect capital spending reductions of at least 20%-25% in 2016 across the exploration and production
industry following the recent reduction in commodity price expectations: we expect Brent crude oil to
average $43 per barrel this year and $48 per barrel next year.
CGG is one of the largest players in the oil and gas marine seismic industry alongside Petroleum GeoServices
ASA (B1 negative) and WesternGeco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Schlumberger Ltd. (Aa3 stable).