Valaris is no longer in an active chapter 11 posture: the bankruptcy court entered a Final Decree closing the remaining Chapter 11 casesDkt. 1522 on April 15, 2026, leaving only retained-jurisdiction and reopening mechanics for post-closing matters. The case began on August 19, 2020, when Valaris filed chapter 11 amid the offshore-drilling downturn that followed COVID-19-driven demand destruction, customer contract cancellations and modifications, and a capital structure carrying roughly $7.1 billion of funded debt across an unsecured revolver and multiple unsecured note series, as described in the Baksht first-day declarationDkt. 23.
The filing followed Valaris’s 2019 combination of Ensco and Rowan and came after the company had already reduced headcount, cut planned 2020 capital expenditures, and entered chapter 11 with about $175 million of cash. The restructuring path was a lender- and bondholder-driven balance-sheet reorganization rather than a sale process: the first-day declaration described a restructuring support agreement centered on $500 million of DIP financing, a $500 million exit financing commitment, and equitization of debt through distributions to revolving lenders, senior noteholders, and new secured notes purchasers under the proposed capital structure.
That plan process matured quickly. Valaris filed a modified third amended reorganization plan in January 2021 through the Third Amended Joint Chapter 11 PlanDkt. 988, and the court confirmed the fourth amended joint plan on March 3, 2021 through the . With the final decree now entered, the restructuring arc has moved from distress filing and debt equitization to post-confirmation wind-down administration: the remaining cases are closed, the reorganized debtors were directed to complete final reporting and U.S. Trustee fee obligations within 21 days of the decree, and the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the plan, confirmation order, and final decree.
