And the reason for that is to keep others away who may be thinking about filing a competing plan to restructure Cumulus and muddying up the progress that’s been made so far. And, Cumulus says it has achieved “significant progress.” The original 120 days to keep any competitive plans off the table expires on March 29. Cumulus wants that date extended to May 28.
The exclusivity period gives the debtor (Cumulus) an opportunity to negotiate the settlement of its debts by proposing and soliciting support for its plan of reorganization without interference from competing plans from its creditors or others in interest.
In the Wednesday court filing, Cumulus says terminating exclusivity would potentially unravel the significant creditor support for the plan, to the detriment of all of the company’s stakeholders. “In addition, if this Court were to deny the Debtors’ request for an extension of exclusivity, any party in interest would be free to propose a plan of reorganization just as the Debtors will be pursuing confirmation of their Plan. Such a ruling would foster a chaotic environment with no central focus and invites abuse of process. In short, allowing other parties to propose plans of reorganization for one or more of the Debtors at such an early stage of the Chapter 11 Cases would effectively undo all of the Debtors’ progress to date, and would critically impair the Debtors’ ability to achieve an effective and value-maximizing reorganization.”
A hearing has been set on the extension request for 2 p.m. on March 21. Anyone objecting to Cumulus’ request to extend the exclusivity period must file those objections by March 16.