Getty Images has reached a restructuring agreement that would take the visual-content company private and reduce its debt. The company plans to begin a prepackaged Chapter 11 process in the coming weeks and aims to complete the restructuring by the end of 2026.
Affiliates of Koch Equity Development and the Getty family committed up to $533 million in new equity, according to the company announcement. If the plan is completed, those investors would own 100% of the reorganized company.
How the restructuring would reduce Getty's debt
Noteholders representing 83.5% of Getty's unsecured bonds agreed to retire $270 million in senior unsecured notes. Holders representing about 89% of its secured bonds and term loans, along with all of its revolving-credit lenders, agreed to reduce interest obligations and extend debt maturities.
Koch Equity Development also agreed to provide up to $143 million in financing to support the restructuring. The required majority of creditors has committed to vote for the reorganization plan, Getty said, but the transaction still needs to move through the planned court-supervised process.
What Getty says will stay the same
The Chapter 11 filing would cover only certain U.S. Getty entities. Getty said it expects to operate normally, pay vendors in full in the ordinary course and avoid disruption for employees, contributors, partners and customers.
The deal follows Getty's abandoned $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock. Reuters reported that Getty dropped that transaction after the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority required Shutterstock to divest its editorial business as a condition of approval.
