GT Advanced Technologies Inc. has lined up $80 million worth of financing to help it get out of a bankruptcy after its messy breakup with Apple Inc.

The equipment manufacturer was enlisted to supply sapphire screen material for Apple on a large scale, but the smartphone maker spurned GT's offering, leaving it mired in debt.

GT Advanced's stint in chapter 11 bankruptcy began in October 2014, amid a fight with Apple that ended in a settlement. Since then, the company has struggled to return to its mission as a maker of industrial equipment and to find a way out of bankruptcy.

The company's existing lenders are offering bankruptcy-exit financing including $60 million in new debt and $20 million in preferred stock. The financing carries a 5% fee and other costs and calls for GT to file a chapter 11 exit plan by Dec. 21. The plan must be implemented in the first quarter of 2016.

In broad outline, the proposed chapter 11 plan would pay off bankruptcy loans of about $50 million, plus fees, and cede ownership of the company to creditors.

Investors backing the plan and the financing include senior lenders and major investors in GT's debt, according to papers filed Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Hampshire. Names on the deal include Jefferies LLC, QPB Holdings Ltd., Wolverine Flagship Fund Trading Ltd., Citigroup Financial Products Inc., and Caspian Capital LP. Unsecured bondholders that support the deal include AQR Capital Management, LLC; Aristeia Capital, L.L.C.; Latigo Partners, LP; New Generation Advisors, LLC and Pine River Capital Management, L.P., court papers say.

Shareholders will recover nothing under GT's proposed reorganization plan.

The offer of exit financing comes amid some positive news for GT, including word of a sale of some of the furnaces that had been used to make sapphire-screen material for Apple. GT has been under the gun to sell the furnaces or to get them out of Apple's way, as the larger company moves to reclaim its Mesa, Ariz., facility.

Last week, GT announced it has an offer of $26.6 million for 567 of the furnaces, from a buyer identified as Vast Billion Development. GT has agreed to split the proceeds of furnace sales with Apple as part of a settlement that clears up Apple's $439 million claim against the equipment maker.

Additionally, court papers indicate the company is expecting a $23 million refund from the IRS before the end of January 2016.

GT Advanced has asked to hold on to sole control of the course of its reorganization through Jan. 22, 2016, to avoid distractions while it pushes forward with its strategy for resolving its debts and getting out of bankruptcy.

Write to Peg Brickley at peg.brickley@wsj.com

 

Access Investor Kit for "Apple, Inc."

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US0378331005

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2015 12:25 ET (17:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Apple Charts.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Apple Charts.