Rockdale Marcellus seeks exclusivity extension as sale closing nears

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., Jan. 19 – Rockdale Marcellus Holdings, LLC is seeking a 47-day extension of its exclusive periods to file and solicit votes on a Chapter 11 plan, according to a motion filed Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Specifically, the company asked the court to extend the plan filing period through March 7 from Jan. 19 and the solicitation period through May 6 from March 20.

The company said the debtors used the first three months of their cases to maximize the benefits of the Chapter 11 process, mainly by running a successful auction process for the sale of substantially all of their assets, in order to construct the framework of a plan.

“That framework and the results of the sale process could not have been achieved on a shorter timeline,” the company said in its motion.

“Now that the framework is in place, however, the debtors are poised to begin productively moving forward with the next stage of these Chapter 11 cases, including seeking a recovery of certain assets for the benefit of the estates and negotiating a Chapter 11 plan with their stakeholders.”

The company said the asset sale was expected to close on or about Jan. 19. Rockdale said that once the sale has been completed, the debtors will be able to turn their attention to formulating and negotiating the terms of a plan of liquidation using the proceeds generated from the sale.

As previously reported, two of the company’s largest general unsecured creditors, Regency Marcellus Gas Gathering, LLC and ETC Aqua, LLC, are currently seeking conversion of the Chapter 11 cases to Chapter 7.

“In the absence of any justification for having these cases remain in Chapter 11, and in order to preserve the funds that would otherwise be expended pursuing a liquidating plan, it would be in the best interests of the debtors’ remaining creditors to convert these cases from Chapter 11 to cases under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code immediately following the closing of the sale,” the creditors had said in their motion.

A hearing on the creditors’ conversion motion is scheduled for Feb. 3, and a hearing on the exclusivity extension is scheduled for Feb. 17.

Canonsburg, Pa.-based Rockdale is an independent exploration and production company with a gas-focused asset base. The company filed bankruptcy on Sept. 21 under Chapter 11 case number 21-22079.

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