Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

A pumpjack works at a well head on an oil and gas installation near Cremona, Alta., on Oct. 29, 2016.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Calfrac Well Services Ltd. says a Texas company’s proposed restructuring plan doesn’t have sufficient support from unsecured noteholders and so it will continue with a debt-for-stock swap announced in July.

Under the original plan, Calfrac’s unsecured notes would be exchanged for shares and current shareholders would see their stake reduced to 8 per cent of Calfrac’s equity.

Wilks Brothers LLC of Cisco, Tex., countered that proposal on Aug. 4 with one that it said would leave Calfrac with less debt in return for a smaller equity stake.

It charged the plan advanced by Calfrac would “unfairly enrich certain key insiders’” in the company.

Calfrac said Monday that a special committee of its directors has reviewed the Wilks offer, consulted unsecured noteholders and concluded the Texas bid lacks enough support to be successful.

It added that the original recapitalization proposal currently has the support of 78 per cent of the senior unsecured notes, subject to certain conditions.

Calfrac has scheduled meetings of shareholders and unsecured noteholders for Sept. 17 in Calgary, with a decline for submitting proxies or voting instructions set for Sept. 15.

In an earlier news release, Calfrac said Wilks Brothers, which owns U.S. competitor ProFrac Services Ltd., made two offers to buy Calfrac’s U.S. business in June. Both were refused.

Wilks Brothers owns just less than 20 per cent of Calfrac’s common shares.

Both Calfrac and ProFrac offer oil field services including hydraulic fracturing, where chemicals and liquids are injected at high pressure into underground formations to break up tight rock and allow trapped oil and gas to flow into the well.

Your time is valuable. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Sign up today.

Report an editorial error

Report a technical issue

Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
CFW-T
Calfrac Well Services Ltd
+0.51%3.96

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe