Quest Energy Partners Announces Loan Amendments and Borrowing Base Confirmation
November 07 2008 - 7:30AM
Marketwired
Quest Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: QELP) ("QELP") today announced
that it had finalized agreements with its lenders to amend the
terms of its senior credit agreement and second lien senior term
loan agreement. Among other terms of the amendments, the lenders
agreed to waive any potential non-compliance in prior periods that
was a direct or indirect consequence of the questionable transfer
of approximately $10 million of funds from the Quest entities to an
entity controlled by QELP's former chief executive officer.
QELP's senior credit agreement consists of a $250 million
revolving credit facility with availability tied to a borrowing
base that is re-determined by the lenders every six months based on
third party reserve reports. On November 5, 2008, the lenders
reviewed and affirmed the existing borrowing base of $190 million,
consistent with the borrowing base at the time of the PetroEdge
acquisition in July 2008. With the reconfirmation of the borrowing
base, QELP has $7 million of availability under the revolving
senior credit facility. QELP has not borrowed on the facility since
the Quest entities announced the questionable transfer of funds on
August 25, 2008.
QELP's $45 million second lien senior term loan was amended to
extend its maturity from January 11, 2009 to September 30, 2009.
The amended second lien senior term loan limits fiscal 2009 capital
expenditures to $30 million and, for as long as the second lien
senior term loan is outstanding, limits the maximum quarterly
distribution QELP may declare and pay on its outstanding common
units to $0.40 per common unit. The amendments also require QELP to
make quarterly principal payments of $3.8 million beginning
November 15, 2008 on the second lien senior term loan.
The interest rate payable under QELP's credit facilities is a
variable rate equal to, at QELP's option, either the Eurodollar
rate or the base rate, plus an applicable margin. The amendments
increased the margins payable under each credit facility. After
giving effect to the amendments, the current interest on the
revolving credit facility was increased from 5.75% to 6.875% and
the interest rate on the second lien senior term loan was increased
from 9.875% to 12.5%.
QELP paid a 25 basis point amendment fee on the committed
amounts of the credit agreements. The full amendments to the loan
agreements were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
on November 7, 2008.
Management Comment
David Lawler, president of QELP said, "We are pleased to
complete these amendments that give us additional time to repay our
second lien senior term loan and allow us to continue to make
distributions to our common unit holders. We are committed to
limiting capital expenditures in 2009 to a maintenance level and
using excess cash flow generated by our operations to reduce
debt."
About Quest Energy Partners, L.P.
Quest Energy Partners, L.P. was formed by Quest Resource Corp.
(NASDAQ: QRCP) to acquire, exploit and develop natural gas and oil
properties and to acquire, own, and operate related assets. The
partnership owns more than 2,300 wells and is the largest producer
of natural gas in the Cherokee Basin, which is located in southeast
Kansas and northeast Oklahoma and holds a drilling inventory of
nearly 2,100 locations in the Basin. The partnership also owns
natural gas and oil producing wells in the Appalachian Basin of the
northeastern United States and in Seminole County, Oklahoma. For
more information, visit the Quest Energy Partners website at
www.qelp.net.
Forward-Looking Statements
Opinions, forecasts, projections or statements other than
statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this
announcement are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although QELP
believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct. In particular, the forward
looking statements made in this release are based upon a number of
financial and operating assumptions that are subject to a number of
risks, including the results of QELP's ongoing internal
investigation into the questionable transfers by QELP's former CEO
mentioned in this press release, the ongoing worldwide crisis in
the capital markets, uncertainty involved in exploring for and
developing new natural gas reserves, the sale prices of natural gas
and oil, labor and raw material costs, the availability of
sufficient capital resources to carry out the anticipated level of
new well development and construction of related pipelines,
environmental issues, weather conditions, competition and general
market conditions. Actual results may differ materially due to a
variety of factors, some of which may not be foreseen by QELP.
These risks, and other risks are detailed in QELP's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including risk factors
listed in their latest annual reports on Form 10-K and other
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You can find
QELP's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at
www.qelp.net or at www.sec.gov. By making these forward-looking
statements, QELP undertakes no obligation to update these
statements for revisions or changes after the date of this
release.
Company Contact: Jack Collins Interim CFO Phone: (405) 702-7460
Website: www.qelp.net
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