Ahern Rentals, Inc. announced the company’s final emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Ahern sought Chapter 11 protection on December 22, 2011, after it was unable to extend the maturity of its revolving credit facility. During the case, the company implemented a business recovery strategy which consisted of strategically opening multiple branches in new geographic markets and redeploying its equipment rental fleet to these new markets, which resulted in substantial improvement in its business operations and financial condition.
Through the company’s confirmed plan of reorganization, the company was successfully able to refinance its existing indebtedness and negate a competing plan of reorganization from its junior creditors that had bought second lien debt at significant discounts to par in an attempt to take control of the company. Accordingly, Ahern’s two owners (Don F. Ahern and John Paul Ahern, Jr.) retained 100% of the capital stock in the reorganized entity, the second lien holders received par plus pre-petition interest and all other creditors received 100% of their allowed claims. With its emergence from bankruptcy, Ahern is positioned well from both an operational standpoint and capital structure to continue its strong growth into the future.
“We thank our customers and our employees, suppliers and business partners, whose loyalty during this process has been instrumental in our continued financial success and our success in emerging from bankruptcy,” said Don F. Ahern, President and CEO of Ahern Rentals. “We also want to thank our financial advisors, The Seaport Group and Oppenheimer & Co., for developing and helping us implement the plan that allowed us to successfully exit bankruptcy, and our legal counsel, Stoel Rives LLP, who have advised us on our financing issues since 2004 and Gordon Silver who served as our legal advisors.”
Ahern Rentals is an equipment rental company with 75 branches in 22 states. Through its network of equipment rental locations, it rents a full range of construction equipment, sells used rental equipment, new equipment, parts, supplies and related merchandise, and provides maintenance, repair and other services that supplement its rental activities.