Curo Emerges from Chapter 11 Better Positioned for Long-Term Profitable Growth
GREENVILLE, S.C., July 19, 2024 – CURO Group Holdings Corp. today announced that it has emerged from Chapter 11 protection as Curo Group Holdings LLC (“Curo” or the “Company”), having taken all required actions and satisfied all remaining conditions to effectiveness of its Joint Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”), which was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division on May 16, 2024.
“Today’s announcement marks the beginning of a new chapter for Curo,” said Doug Clark, Chief Executive Officer at Curo. “We are emerging as a substantially stronger business and are now better positioned to achieve long-term profitable growth. We are incredibly appreciative of the support from all of our stakeholders as we continue to provide our customers with a variety of convenient, easily accessible financial services.”
The Plan relieves Curo of approximately $1 billion in debt and not less than $75 million of annual interest obligations and will otherwise provide for improved liquidity. The Plan provides for payment in full of the allowed claims of general unsecured creditors, which includes, among others, trade, customer, employee, and landlord claims.
As previously announced, Curo’s Plan received overwhelming support from existing stakeholders of CURO Group Holdings Corp. constituting (1) 100% of the Prepetition 1L Term Loan Claims and Prepetition 1.5L Notes Claims that voted on the Plan, (2) more than 99.9% of the Prepetition 2L Notes Claims that voted on the Plan, and (3) more than 95% of existing equity interests that voted on the Plan. The Company also obtained recognition of the Plan from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) (the “Canadian Court”).
Emerging as a private company, the equity of Curo will not be listed on any public stock exchange.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP served as legal counsel to the Company, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP served as Canadian legal counsel to the Company, and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., served as investment banker to the Company. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Vinson & Elkins LLP served as legal counsel to the ad hoc group of Curo’s secured lenders (the “Ad Hoc Group”), and Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc. served as financial advisor to the Ad Hoc Group.
About Curo
Curo is a leading consumer credit lender serving U.S. and Canadian customers for over 25 years. Our roots in the consumer finance market run deep. We’ve worked diligently to provide customers a variety of convenient, easily accessible financial services. Our decades of diversified data power a hard-to-replicate underwriting and scoring engine, mitigating risk across the full spectrum of credit products. We operate under a number of brands including Cash Money®, LendDirect®, Heights Finance, Southern Finance, Covington Credit, Quick Credit and First Heritage Credit.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. In addition, words such as “estimate,” “believe,” “forecast,” “step,” “plan,” “predict,” “focused,” “project,” “is likely,” “guidance,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “will,” “confident,” variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
The Company’s ability to achieve these forward-looking statements is based on certain assumptions, judgments and other factors, both within and outside of the Company’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the effects on the Company’s business and clients of general economic and financial market conditions, as well as the following: a liquid trading market for the Company’s common units or warrants may not develop; provisions in the Company’s organizational documents could delay or prevent a change in control, or cause the price of the Company’s common units to decline; the Company’s common units will be subject to dilution by the Company’s management incentive plan and warrants; existing cash balances and funds generated from operations may not be sufficient to finance the Company’s operations and meet its cash requirements; the Company could be subject to cyber-attacks and other security breaches; the Company may be unable to retain or hire key employees; the Company may be affected by tax assessments, unfavorable tax audit outcomes, delayed tax filings and future increased levels of taxation; and additional risks and uncertainties, all of which may have potential adverse effects on the Company’s business and relationships with customers, vendors, employees, service providers and suppliers. Additionally, the Company’s financial results following the effective date (the “Effective Date”) of the Company’s plan of reorganization (the “Plan”) will not be comparable to the Company’s available historical financial information for periods prior to the Effective Date as a result of the implementation of the Plan and the transactions contemplated thereby and its adoption of fresh start accounting.
There may be additional risks that the Company does not presently know or currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's assumptions prove incorrect, the Company's actual financial condition, results of operations, future performance and business may vary in material respects from the performance projected in these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement in this press release is based only on information available to the Company at the time such statement was made and speaks only as of the date on which it was made. The statements included in this press release are not guarantees of performance or results. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual future results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update, amend or clarify any forward-looking statement for any reason. No representation or warranty is given as to the achievability or reasonableness of any projections, estimates or forward-looking statements. This press release is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, accounting, legal or tax advice or any investment recommendation.
Investors:
Email: IR@curo.com
Media:
Jude Gorman / Dan Moore, Collected Strategies
Email: CURO-CS@collectedstrategies.com