CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust, Inc. emerged from Chapter 11 on June 12, 2024 under a pre-negotiated plan that swapped substantially all of its roughly $118 million unsecured convertible note balance for equity, closing a fast-tracked case that ran from petition to effectiveness in under four months in the Western District of Missouri.
The Kansas City–based REIT, whose principal operating asset is an approximately 2,000-mile California crude oil pipeline network held through a 49.5% equity interest in Crimson Midstream Holdings, arrived at bankruptcy after a sustained squeeze on its business. Pipeline throughput fell by roughly 25,000 barrels per day — about a 30% revenue reduction — while the rate on its revolving credit facility climbed from 5.7% in 2022 to 10.2% by late 2023, and the NYSE suspended trading and launched delisting proceedings in December 2023. Days before filing, CorEnergy closed the sale of its MoGas and Omega systems to Spire on January 19, 2024, using the proceeds to retire approximately $109 million of secured bank debt and leaving the 5.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 as the sole funded debt at the debtor Summary of SchedulesDkt. 17.
CorEnergy filed its Chapter 11 Voluntary PetitionDkt. 1 on February 25, 2024 paired with a pre-packaged disclosure statement and a motion to assume a Restructuring Support AgreementDkt. 20 struck the same day with holders of at least 66.7% — and, by mid-March, roughly 90% — of the senior notes. The RSA compressed the case aggressively, targeting a disclosure statement order by April 25, 2024, confirmation by June 10, 2024, and an effective date within thirty days thereafter. Because the only remaining funded debt was the convertible notes, the restructuring turned on a single unsecured creditor class, and the framed the deal around reducing those claims to approximately 38% of face.
The Chapter 11 Plan filed March 15, 2024 implemented the RSA framework Chapter 11 Plan of ReorganizationDkt. 133. Senior noteholders received a cash pool of roughly $23.6 million, a $45 million takeback debt facility, and between 86.41% and 88.96% of new common stock; preferred holders received 8.25% to 10.15% of reorganized equity, while common stockholders recovered their pro rata share of a liquidation value the debtor estimated at $0.00. Reorganized governance placed a five-member board under noteholder control — including designees of Keyframe and Cyrus Capital and two Ad Hoc Noteholder Group independents — with a 10% management incentive plan carved out of the equity pool. The debtor pegged enterprise value at approximately $70 million and implied equity value at roughly $36 million at emergence.
Judge Cynthia A. Norton approved the disclosure statement and confirmed the plan by amended order entered May 24, 2024, and CorEnergy noticed the effective date as having occurred on June 12, 2024 — inside the RSA's milestones and leaving the reorganized company under senior-noteholder ownership.
