A group of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. senior unsecured noteholders has pitched the latest plan to help the California utility emerge from bankruptcy and pay off debt and wildfire claims.
The official committee of tort claimants and the ad hoc committee of senior unsecured noteholders of Pacific Gas and Electric, or PG&E, on Sept. 25 filed a term sheet for an amended joint plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.
The proposal would provide $29.2 billion in new investments in exchange for 59.3% of the outstanding common stock of reorganized PG&E Corp., new debt of reorganized PG&E Corp. and new debt of reorganized utility subsidiary PG&E.
The proceeds from the new investments outlined under the plan would be used to pay outstanding debtor-in-possession financing claims and all utility bond, term loan and revolving debt maturing prior to Dec. 31, 2022.
The plan also would fund the creation of two trusts designed to pay claims tied to the 2017 and 2018 deadly Northern California wildfires. This $25.5 billion investment would be funded through $12.75 billion in cash and $12.75 billion in common stock of reorganized PG&E Corp.
The two trusts would consist of a $14.5 billion trust used to compensate wildfire victims and an $11 billion trust used to settle insurance claims.
PG&E Corp. and PG&E on Sept. 9 filed their official Chapter 11 restructuring plan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court just days after they disclosed an $11 billion preliminary settlement over insured claims stemming from the wildfires linked to PG&E power lines.
The debtors face a state-imposed June 30, 2020, deadline to exit bankruptcy protection in order to participate in a $21 billion wildfire fund to cover claims from future fires.
