Cumulus Asks Court to Extend Exclusivity Period

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, March 9, 2018 | 1:48pm CT

Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to extend the exclusivity period by four months. The company filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 reorganization on November 29, 2017 and an extension would extend the proceeding into September. In its filing, Cumulus said it had made "significant progress" on an expedited timeline in obtaining financing to "stabilize and continue" operations during the ordinary course of business. "Nevertheless," Cumulus said, "significant work remains to be done."

Cumulus maintained in the filing that it needs to "maintain the exclusive right to file a chapter 11 plan and solicit votes thereon to achieve their remaining objectives as efficiently and expeditiously as possible. In contrast, allowing the exclusivity periods to expire would introduce unnecessary uncertainty and confusion into the Chapter 11 cases and will impose substantial additional costs on the Debtors' estates."

In November, Cumulus Media entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) with certain of its secured lenders, among others, holding approximately 69% of the company's term loan to reduce its debt by more than $1 billion before it filed with the court. The extension would give the company up to 120 days to convince other stakeholders to join its plan -- free from competing proposals.

Without an extension, the Cumulus' exclusive 120-day period to file a plan expires March 29 and the 180-day period to solicit acceptances or rejections would end May 28. The filing seeks new deadlines, extended to July 26 and September 24, respectively. A hearing to consider the matter has been set for March 21.