Buccaneer creditors come to terms

Buccaneer Energy Ltd. and its largest unsecured creditors have reached a settlement that should allow the Cook Inlet gas producer to proceed with a sale of its Alaska assets.

The settlement requires Buccaneer’s largest creditor to pay $10 million into a trust that would be included in liquidation plans designed to repay unsecured creditors.

The deal also makes allowances for how the proceeds of a forthcoming liquidation sale would compensate AIX Energy LLC as well as other creditors and claimants, including Cook Inlet Region Inc. and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.

The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors had questioned the relationship between Meridian Capital International Fund and AIX Energy. Meridian is Buccaneer’s largest shareholder and holds a seat on its board. AIX is Buccaneer’s largest lender and the “stalking horse bidder” for a proposed liquidation sale. The committee had claimed that Meridian created AIX “as a ‘straw-man’ lender to foreclose the debtors’ assets.”

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas must approve the deal.

The court has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 25.

- Eric Lidji