Getty Images files a prepackaged Chapter 11 in Delaware; its shareholders get nothing under the plan

Getty Images Holdings and six of its subsidiaries filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Wednesday, according to a Form 8-K and the company's press release. The cases are prepackaged. Voting on the plan began on Tuesday, before the filing, under a restructuring support agreement signed on October 12 with its majority shareholders and certain holders of each class of its funded debt.

The money comes from two places. Members of the Getty family, through affiliated entities, and affiliates of Koch Equity Development will invest up to $533m of new equity, and the company expects a Koch affiliate to provide debtor-in-possession financing of up to $143m. The disclosure statement says that facility ends no later than January 31, 2027.

Existing equity is wiped out. The 8-K says all Class A common stock will be cancelled on the plan's effective date with no recovery, and claims tied to the company's 2020 warrants, which were the subject of a judgment the Second Circuit affirmed in January, are subordinated under section 510(b) and receive nothing.

The filing accelerated about $539.9m of 11.25 percent senior secured notes due 2030, $264.7m of 14 percent senior notes due 2028, $150m of revolving loans and term loans of about €407m and $40.1m. Getty Images says it expects to finish the restructuring by year end and emerge as a privately held company.