Getty Images has reached a restructuring agreement with major financial stakeholders that will take the visual-content company private while reducing debt and injecting as much as $533 million in new equity.
Affiliates of the Getty family and Koch Equity Development have committed the new capital under the restructuring support agreement. Upon completion, those investors are expected to own 100% of the reorganized company.
The agreement also calls for holders of Getty’s unsecured bonds to retire $270 million of senior unsecured notes. Holders representing approximately 89% of secured bonds and term loans have agreed to lower interest obligations and extend maturities, while all revolving-credit lenders support the plan.
Getty intends to implement the restructuring through an expedited prepackaged Chapter 11 process involving certain U.S. entities and expects completion by year-end.
The transaction represents a significant reversal for Getty’s public-market trajectory.
The company previously pursued a $3.7 billion combination with Shutterstock before abandoning that transaction after regulatory conditions imposed by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority.
Getty says operations, employees, contributors, customers and vendors are expected to continue normally through the restructuring.
For markets, the deal illustrates how companies carrying significant debt can use private capital and negotiated creditor support to restructure without pursuing a prolonged conventional bankruptcy process.
The next milestones are court approval, implementation of the prepackaged plan and Getty’s emergence as a privately held company.
