A court order on interim financing is due in days, and the plan's equity commitment is up to $533 million. The creditor groups that have not signed are small, but they are where an objection would start.
A prepackaged bankruptcy is sold as a fast process, and the speed is written into the paperwork. For Getty Images, the first deadline arrives within days.
Getty Images Holdings entered Chapter 11 in Delaware on Wednesday, a day after it began soliciting votes. The lead case is No. 26-11643; an affiliate, Getty Images News Services (PRC), Inc., is No. 26-11647. Each lists assets and liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion, and no first-day hearing had been set.
The calendar
Under the restructuring support agreement, the court must approve interim case financing three business days after the filing, which points to about Oct. 26. That financing is a facility of up to $143 million from a KED affiliate, KED being Koch Equity Development. Getty targets emergence by the end of 2026, and the plan has not been confirmed.
Those dates describe a process built to be uncontested. They also show how little slack it has: if the interim financing order slips, the plan's schedule slips with it.
The size of the commitments
The equity commitment of up to about $533 million is not all new cash. It includes the debtor-in-possession loans, which convert into equity at emergence, and about $100 million of existing debt held by the majority shareholders that will also convert. In return, the family affiliates and KED would own 100% of the reorganized company, subject to dilution from a management incentive plan. The party funding the bankruptcy, a KED affiliate lending up to $143 million, is also a main party to the new ownership. The family and KED already hold a combined majority, at 45.5% and 27.3%, and Getty's shares have traded over the counter since the NYSE delisting.
For the current stock, the plan is simple. The company said holders of Class A stock would not receive or retain any distribution under it.
Who has agreed, and who has not
Support is broad but not complete. Holders of 83.5% of the unsecured bonds agreed to the retirement of the $270 million of notes, which leaves 16.5% of that class outside the agreement. Holders of about 89% of the secured bonds and term loans agreed to lower interest and longer maturities, and all revolver lenders also signed on, so about 11% of the secured bonds and term loans are not counted among them.
Those remainders are small, but they are the pool from which any creditor objection would come. Public shareholders, who are wiped out, are the other group with a reason to object.
Two readings
One reading is that the calendar shows control. Creditors are largely signed, the financing is committed, and a short deadline is a sign that the parties expect little resistance.
The other reading is that the same calendar concentrates the risk early. The first test is a court approving a financing facility from a party that will also own the company, and a confirmed plan has to follow it.
What to watch
The interim financing order near Oct. 26; the first-day hearing; the confirmation hearing date and any objections from creditors or shareholders; the final vote results; and whether the company holds to its year-end target. An objection filed before the interim order would be the earliest sign that the plan's schedule is under pressure.