Debt | Debt Chapter 11 Proceedings and Emergence The Bankruptcy Filing constituted an event of default under certain of our secured and unsecured debt obligations. As a result of the Bankruptcy Filing, the principal and interest due under these debt instruments became immediately due and payable. However, pursuant to Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code, the creditors were stayed from taking any action as a result of such defaults. On the Effective Date, our obligations under the FLLO Term Loan and Senior Notes, including interest and accrued interest, were fully extinguished in exchange for equity in the post-emergence Company. In addition, our pre-petition revolving credit facility was restructured into a new exit credit facility. Reclassification of Debt The principal amounts outstanding under the FLLO Term Loan, Second Lien Notes and all of our other unsecured senior and convertible senior notes were reclassified as liabilities subject to compromise on the accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020. Additionally, non-cash adjustments were made to write off all of the related unamortized debt issuance costs and associated discounts and premiums of approximately $457 million, which are included in reorganization items, net in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, as discussed in Note 2 . The agreements for our FLLO Term Loan, Second Lien Notes, and unsecured senior and convertible senior notes contain provisions regarding the calculation of interest upon default. Upon default, the interest rate on the FLLO Term Loan increased from LIBOR plus 8.00% to alternative base rate (ABR) (3.25% during the fourth quarter) plus Applicable Margin (7.00% during the fourth quarter) plus 2.00%. For the Second Lien Notes and all of our other unsecured senior and convertible senior notes, the interest rate remained the same upon default. However, interest accrued on the amount of unpaid interest in addition to the principal balance. We did not pay or recognize interest on the FLLO Term Loan, Second Lien Notes, or unsecured senior and convertible senior notes during the Chapter 11 process. Pre-emergence debt Our long-term debt consisted of the following as of December 31, 2020 and 2019: December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Principal Amount Carrying Principal Carrying Amount ($ in millions) DIP credit facility $ — $ — $ — $ — Pre-petition revolving credit facility 1,929 1,929 1,590 1,590 Term loan due 2024 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,470 11.5% senior secured second lien notes due 2025 2,330 2,330 2,330 3,248 6.625% senior notes due 2020 176 176 208 208 6.875% senior notes due 2020 73 73 93 93 6.125% senior notes due 2021 167 167 167 167 5.375% senior notes due 2021 127 127 127 127 4.875% senior notes due 2022 272 272 338 338 5.75% senior notes due 2023 167 167 209 209 7.00% senior notes due 2024 624 624 624 624 6.875% senior notes due 2025 2 2 2 2 8.00% senior notes due 2025 246 246 246 245 5.5% convertible senior notes due 2026 1,064 1,064 1,064 765 7.5% senior notes due 2026 119 119 119 119 8.00% senior notes due 2026 46 46 46 44 8.00% senior notes due 2027 253 253 253 253 Debt issuance costs — — — (44) Total debt, net 9,095 9,095 8,916 9,458 Less current maturities of long-term debt, net (1,929) (1,929) (385) (385) Less amounts reclassified to liabilities subject to compromise (7,166) (7,166) — — Total long-term debt, net $ — $ — $ 8,531 $ 9,073 Debt Issuances and Retirements 2020 In 2020, we repurchased approximately $160 million aggregate principal amount of the following senior notes for $95 million and recorded an aggregate gain of approximately $65 million. Notes Repurchased ($ in millions) 6.625% senior notes due 2020 $ 32 6.875% senior notes due 2020 20 4.875% senior notes due 2022 66 5.75% senior notes due 2023 42 Total $ 160 Debt Issuances and Retirements 2019 Term Loan. In December 2019, we entered into a secured 4.5-year term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1.5 billion for net proceeds of approximately $1.455 billion. Our obligations under the new facility are unconditionally guaranteed on a joint and several basis by the same subsidiaries that guarantee our revolving credit facility and second lien notes (including BVL and its subsidiaries) and are secured by first-priority liens on the same collateral securing our revolving credit facility (with a position in the collateral proceeds waterfall junior to the revolving credit facility). The term loan bears interest at a rate of London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 8.00% per annum, subject to a 1.00% LIBOR floor, or the Alternative Base Rate (ABR) plus 7.00% per annum, subject to a 2.00% ABR floor, at our option. The loan was made at 98% of par. We used the net proceeds to finance tender offers for our unsecured BVL senior notes and to repay amounts outstanding under our BVL revolving credit facility. We recorded an aggregate net gain of approximately $4 million associated with the retirement of our BVL senior notes and the BVL revolving credit facility. The term loan matures in June 2024 and voluntary prepayments are subject to a make-whole premium prior to the 18-month anniversary of the closing of the term loan, a premium to par of 5.00% from the 18-month anniversary until but excluding the 30-month anniversary, a premium to par of 2.5% from the 30-month anniversary until but excluding the 42-month anniversary and at par beginning on the 42-month anniversary. The term loan may be subject to mandatory prepayments and offers to prepay with net cash proceeds of certain issuances of debt, certain asset sales and other dispositions of collateral and upon a change of control. The term loan contains covenants limiting our ability to incur additional indebtedness, incur liens, consummate mergers and similar fundamental changes, make restricted payments, sell collateral and use proceeds from such sales, make investments, repay certain subordinate, unsecured or junior lien indebtedness, and enter into transactions with affiliates. Events of default under the term loan include, among other things, nonpayment of principal, interest or other amounts; violation of covenants; incorrectness of representations and warranties in any material respect; cross-payment default and cross acceleration with respect to other indebtedness with an outstanding principal balance of $125 million or more; bankruptcy; judgments involving liability of $125 million or more that are not paid; and ERISA events. Many events of default are subject to customary notice and cure periods. Senior Secured Second Lien Notes . In December 2019, we completed private offers to exchange newly issued 11.5% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2025 (the “Second Lien Notes”) for the following outstanding senior unsecured notes (the “Existing Notes”): Notes Exchanged ($ in millions) 7.00% senior notes due 2024 $ 226 8.00% senior notes due 2025 999 8.00% senior notes due 2026 873 7.5% senior notes due 2026 281 8.00% senior notes due 2027 837 Total $ 3,216 The Second Lien Notes are secured second lien obligations and are contractually junior to our current and future secured first lien indebtedness, including indebtedness incurred under our revolving credit facility and term loan facility, to the extent of the value of the collateral securing such indebtedness, effectively senior to all of our existing and future unsecured indebtedness, including our outstanding senior notes, to the extent of the value of the collateral, and senior to any future subordinated indebtedness that we may incur. We have the option to redeem the Second Lien Notes, in whole or in part, at specified make-whole or redemption prices. Our Second Lien Notes are governed by an indenture containing covenants that may limit our ability and our subsidiaries’ ability to create liens securing certain indebtedness, make certain restricted payments, enter into certain sale-leaseback transactions, consolidate, merge or transfer assets and dispose of certain collateral and use proceeds from dispositions of certain collateral. As a holding company, Chesapeake owns no operating assets and has no significant operations independent of its subsidiaries. Chesapeake’s obligations under the Second Lien Notes are jointly and severally, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the same subsidiaries that guarantee our revolving credit facility and term loan facility (including BVL and its subsidiaries). See Note 2 4 for condensed combined debtor financial information regarding our guarantor and non-guarantor subsidiaries. The exchanges of the Existing Notes (with a carrying value of $3.152 billion) for $2.210 billion of Second Lien Notes, were accounted for as a troubled debt restructuring. For the majority of the notes in this exchange, the future undiscounted cash flows were greater than the net carrying value of the original debt, so no gain was recognized and a new effective interest rate was established based on the carrying value of the original debt. The amount of the extinguished debt will be amortized over the life of the notes as a reduction to interest expense. As a result, our reported interest expense will be significantly less than the contractual interest payments throughout the term of the Second Lien Notes. In a subsequent transaction in December 2019, we issued an additional $120 million of 11.5% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2025 pursuant to a private offering, at 89.75% of par. Additionally, in December 2019, we entered into a purchase and sale agreement with the same counterparty to acquire $101 million principal amount of our 6.625% Senior Notes due 2020, 4.875% Senior Notes due 2022 and 5.75% Senior Notes due 2023 at a discount. During the first quarter of 2020, we repurchased the senior notes. Exchanges of Senior Notes for Common Stock. We privately negotiated exchanges of approximately $507 million principal amount of our outstanding senior notes for 235,563,519 shares of common stock and $186 million principal amount of our outstanding convertible senior notes for 73,389,094 shares of common stock. We recorded an aggregate net gain of approximately $64 million associated with the exchanges. We issued at par approximately $919 million of 8.00% Senior Notes due 2026 (“2026 notes”) pursuant to a private exchange offer for the following outstanding senior unsecured notes: Notes Exchanged ($ in millions) 6.625% senior notes due 2020 $ 229 6.875% senior notes due 2020 134 6.125% senior notes due 2021 381 5.375% senior notes due 2021 140 Total $ 884 We may redeem some or all of the 2026 notes at any time prior to March 15, 2022 at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed plus a “make-whole” premium. At any time prior to March 15, 2022, we also may redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of each series of notes with an amount of cash not greater than the net cash proceeds of certain equity offerings at a specified redemption price. In addition, we may redeem some or all of the 2026 notes at any time on or after March 15, 2022 at the redemption prices in accordance with the terms of the notes, the indenture and supplemental indenture governing the notes. These senior notes are unsecured obligations of Chesapeake and rank equally in right of payment with all of our other existing and future senior unsecured indebtedness and rank senior in right of payment to all of our future subordinated indebtedness. Our obligations under the senior notes are jointly and severally, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by all of our wholly owned subsidiaries that guarantee the Chesapeake revolving credit facility and certain other unsecured senior notes. We accounted for the exchange as a modification to existing debt and no gain or loss was recognized. We repaid upon maturity $380 million principal amount of our Floating Rate Senior Notes due April 2019 with borrowings from our Chesapeake revolving credit facility. Debt Issuances and Retirements 2018 We issued at par $850 million of 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 (“2024 notes”) and $400 million of 7.50% Senior Notes due 2026 (“2026 notes”) pursuant to a public offering for net proceeds of approximately $1.236 billion. We may redeem some or all of the 2024 notes at any time prior to April 1, 2021 and some or all of the 2026 notes at any time prior to October 1, 2021, in each case at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed plus a “make-whole” premium. At any time prior to April 1, 2021, with respect to the 2024 notes, and October 1, 2021, with respect to the 2026 notes, we also may redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of each series of notes with an amount of cash not greater than the net cash proceeds of certain equity offerings at a specified redemption price. In addition, we may redeem some or all of the 2024 notes at any time on or after April 1, 2021 and some or all of the 2026 notes at any time on or after October 1, 2021, in each case at the redemption prices in accordance with the terms of the notes and the indenture and supplemental indenture governing the notes. These senior notes are unsecured obligations of Chesapeake and rank equally in right of payment with all of our other existing and future senior unsecured indebtedness and rank senior in right of payment to all of our future subordinated indebtedness. Our obligations under the senior notes are jointly and severally, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by certain of our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. We used the net proceeds from the 2024 and 2026 notes, together with cash on hand and borrowings under the Chesapeake revolving credit facility, to repay in full $1.233 billion of borrowings under our secured term loan due 2021 for $1.285 billion, which included a $52 million make-whole premium. We recorded a loss of approximately $65 million associated with the repayment of the term loan, including the make-whole premium and the write-off of $13 million of associated deferred charges. We used a portion of the proceeds from the sale of our Utica Shale assets in Ohio to redeem all of the $1.416 billion aggregate principal amount outstanding of our 8.00% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2022 for $1.477 billion. We recorded a gain of approximately $331 million associated with the redemption, including the realization of the remaining $391 million difference in principal and book value due to troubled debt restructuring accounting in 2015, offset by the make-whole premium of $60 million. We repaid upon maturity $44 million principal amount of our 7.25% Senior Notes due 2018. As required by the terms of the indenture for our 2.25% Contingent Convertible Senior Notes due 2038 (“2038 notes”), the holders were provided the option to require us to purchase on December 15, 2018, all or a portion of the holders’ 2038 notes at par plus accrued and unpaid interest up to, but excluding, December 15, 2018. On December 17, 2018, we paid an aggregate of approximately $8 million to purchase all of the 2038 notes that were tendered and not withdrawn. An aggregate of $1 million principal amount of the 2038 notes remained outstanding as of December 31, 2018. Subsequent to December 31, 2018, we redeemed these notes at par and discharged the related indenture. Senior Notes and Convertible Senior Notes Our senior notes and our convertible senior notes are unsecured senior obligations of Chesapeake and rank equally in right of payment with all of our other existing and future senior unsecured indebtedness and rank senior in right of payment to all of our future subordinated indebtedness. Our obligations under the senior notes and the convertible senior notes are jointly and severally, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by certain of our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. See Note 24 for consolidating financial information regarding our guarantor and non-guarantor subsidiaries. Our senior notes, other than the convertible senior notes, were redeemable at any time at specified make-whole or redemption prices. Our senior notes were governed by indentures containing covenants that could limit our ability and our subsidiaries’ ability to incur certain secured indebtedness, enter into sale-leaseback transactions, and consolidate, merge or transfer assets. The indentures governing the senior notes and the convertible senior notes did not have any financial or restricted payment covenants. Indentures for the senior notes and convertible senior notes had cross default provisions that applied to other indebtedness Chesapeake or any guarantor subsidiary may have from time to time with an outstanding principal amount of at least $50 million or $75 million, depending on the indenture. Pre-Petition Revolving Credit Facility Our revolving credit facility was scheduled to mature in September 2023 and the aggregate commitment of the lenders and borrowing base under the facility was $3.0 billion. The revolving credit facility provides for an accordion feature, pursuant to which the aggregate commitments thereunder may be increased to up to $4.0 billion from time to time, subject to agreement of the participating lenders and certain other customary conditions. As of December 31, 2020, we had outstanding borrowings of $1.929 billion under our revolving credit facility and had used $54 million for various letters of credit. Borrowings under our revolving credit facility bear interest at an alternative base rate (ABR) or LIBOR, at our election, plus an applicable margin ranging from 1.50%-2.50% per annum for ABR loans and 2.50%-3.50% per annum for LIBOR loans, depending on the percentage of the borrowing base then being utilized. Our revolving credit facility was subject to various financial and other covenants. The terms of the revolving credit facility included covenants limiting, among other things, our ability to incur additional indebtedness, make investments or loans, incur liens, consummate mergers and similar fundamental changes, make restricted payments, make investments in unrestricted subsidiaries and enter into transactions with affiliates. On December 3, 2019, we entered into the second amendment to our credit agreement. Among other things, the amendment (i) permitted the issuance of certain secured indebtedness with a lien priority or proceeds recovery behind the obligations under the credit agreement without a corresponding 25% reduction in the borrowing base under the credit agreement, if issued by the next scheduled redetermination of the borrowing base, (ii) increased the amount of indebtedness that can be secured on a pari passu first-lien basis with (and with recovery proceeds behind) the obligations under the credit agreement from $1 billion to $1.5 billion, (iii) increased the applicable margin as defined in the credit agreement on borrowings under the credit agreement by 100 basis points, (iv) requires liquidity of at least $250 million at all times, (v) for each fiscal quarter commencing with the fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2019, replaced the secured leverage ratio financial covenant with a requirement that the first lien secured leverage ratio not exceed 2.50 to 1 as of the end of such fiscal quarter, (vi) increased the maximum permitted leverage ratio as of the end of each fiscal quarter to 4.50 to 1 through the fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2021, with step-downs to 4.25 to 1 for the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2022 and to 4.00 to 1 for each fiscal quarter ending thereafter, and (vii) required that we use the aggregate net cash proceeds of certain asset sales in excess of $50 million to prepay certain indebtedness and/or reduce commitments under our credit agreement, until the retirement of all of our senior notes maturing before September 12, 2023. On December 26, 2019, we entered into the third amendment to our credit agreement, which, among other things, permitted the issuance of certain secured indebtedness with a lien priority behind the obligations under the credit agreement without a corresponding 25% reduction in the borrowing base under the credit agreement, if issued by December 31, 2019 and issued in exchange for, or the proceeds used to refinance, our senior notes . Fair Value of Debt We estimate the fair value of our senior notes based on the market value of our publicly traded debt as determined based on the yield of our senior notes (Level 1). The fair value of all other debt is based on a market approach using estimates provided by an independent investment financial data services firm (Level 2). Fair value is compared to the carrying value, excluding the impact of interest rate derivatives, in the table below: December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Carrying Amount Estimated Fair Value Carrying Amount Estimated Fair Value ($ in millions) Short-term debt (Level 1) $ — $ — $ 385 $ 360 Long-term debt (Level 1) $ — $ — $ 753 $ 622 Long-term debt (Level 2) $ — $ — $ 8,320 $ 6,085 Liabilities subject to compromise (Level 1) $ 982 $ 43 $ — $ — Liabilities subject to compromise (Level 2) $ 6,184 $ 1,694 $ — $ — Post-emergence Debt Our post-emergence exit financing consists of a senior secured Exit Credit Facility, which includes a reserve-based revolving credit facility and a non-revolving loan facility, and unsecured senior notes, which all were entered into on the Effective Date. The initial outstanding principal amounts under the Exit Credit Facility and unsecured senior notes were: February 9, 2021 ($ in millions) 5.5% Senior Notes due 2026 $ 500 5.875% Senior Notes due 2029 500 Exit Credit Facility - Exit Revolver 50 Exit Credit Facility - Non-Revolving Loan Facility 221 Total $ 1,271 Exit Credit Facility. On the Effective Date, pursuant to the terms of the Plan, the Company, as borrower, entered into a reserve-based credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) providing for a reserve-based credit facility (the “Exit Credit Facility”) with an initial borrowing base of $2.5 billion. The borrowing base will be redetermined semiannually on or around May 1 and November 1 of each year and the next scheduled redetermination will be on or about October 1, 2021. The aggregate initial elected commitments of the lenders under the Exit Credit Facility will be $1.75 billion of revolving Tranche A Loans (the “Tranche A Loans”) and $220 million of fully funded Tranche B Loans (the “Tranche B Loans”). The Exit Credit Facility provides for a $200.0 million sublimit of the aggregate commitments that are available for the issuance of letters of credit. The Exit Credit Facility bears interest at the ABR (alternate base rate) or LIBOR, at our election, plus an applicable margin (ranging from 2.25–3.25% per annum for ABR loans and 3.25–4.25% per annum for LIBOR loans, subject to a 1.00% LIBOR floor), depending on the percentage of the borrowing base then being utilized. The Tranche A Loans mature three years after the Effective Date and the Tranche B Loans mature four years after the Effective Date. The Tranche B Loans can be repaid if no Tranche A Loans are outstanding. The Credit Agreement contains financial covenants that require the Company and its Guarantors, on a consolidated basis, to maintain (i) a first lien leverage ratio of not more than 2.75 to 1:00, (ii) a total leverage ratio of not more than 3.50 to 1:00, (iii) a current ratio of not less than 1.00 to 1:00 and (iv) at any time additional secured debt is outstanding, an asset coverage ratio of not less than 1.50 to 1:00, defined as PV10 of PDP reserves to total secured debt. The Company had no additional secured debt outstanding at emergence. The Credit Agreement also contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including, among other things, as to compliance with laws (including environmental laws and anti-corruption laws), delivery of quarterly and annual financial statements, conduct of business, maintenance of property, maintenance of insurance, restrictions on the incurrence of liens, indebtedness, asset dispositions, fundamental changes, restricted payments, and other customary covenants. The Company is required to pay a commitment fee of 0.50% per annum on the average daily unused portion of the current aggregate commitments under the Tranche A Loans. The Company is also required to pay customary letter of credit and fronting fees. Outstanding Senior Notes. On February 2, 2021, Chesapeake Escrow Issuer LLC (the “Escrow Issuer”) an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, issued $500 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.5% Senior Notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) and $500 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.875% Senior Notes due 2029 (the “2029 Notes” and, together with the 2026 Notes, the “Notes”). The offering of the Notes is part of a series of exit financing transactions being undertaken in connection with the Debtors’ Chapter 11 Cases and meant to provide the exit financing originally intended to be provided by the Exit Term Loan Facility pursuant to the Commitment Letter. The Notes are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by each of the Company’s subsidiaries that guarantee the Exit Credit Facility. The gross proceeds from the offering of the Notes were deposited into a segregated escrow account (the “Escrow Account”) and were released upon satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions (the “Escrow Conditions”), including the occurrence of the Effective Date. Prior to the satisfaction of the Escrow Conditions, the Notes are secured by a lien on amounts deposited into the Escrow Account. The Notes were issued pursuant to an indenture, dated as of February 5, 2021 (the “Indenture”), among the Issuer, the Guarantors and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as trustee. Interest on the Notes will be payable semi-annually, on February 1st and August 1st of each year, commencing on August 1, 2021, to holders of record on the immediately preceding January 15th and July 15th. The Notes are the Company’s senior unsecured obligations. Accordingly, they rank (i) equal in right of payment to all existing and future senior indebtedness, including borrowings under the Exit Credit Facility, (ii) effectively subordinate in right of payment to all of existing and future secured indebtedness, including indebtedness under the Exit Credit Facility, to the extent of the value of the collateral securing such indebtedness, (iii) structurally subordinate in right of payment to all existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities of any future subsidiaries that do not guarantee the notes and any entity that is not a subsidiary that does not guarantee the notes and (iv) senior in right of payment to all future subordinated indebtedness. Each guarantee of the notes by a guarantor is a general, unsecured, senior obligation of such guarantor. Accordingly, the guarantees (i) rank equally in right of payment with all existing and future senior indebtedness of such guarantor (including such guarantor’s guarantee of indebtedness under the Exit Credit Facility), (ii) are subordinated to all existing and future secured indebtedness of such guarantor, including such guarantor’s guarantee of indebtedness under our Exit Credit Facility, to the extent of the value of the collateral of such guarantor securing such secured indebtedness, (iii) are structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities of any future subsidiaries of such guarantor that do not guarantee the notes and (iv) rank senior in right of payment to all future subordinated indebtedness of such guarantor. |