General Maritime Corp to Emerge from Bankruptcy Soon

General Maritime Corp. expects to emerge from Chapter 11 soon

Financial Indebtedness to be reduced by approximately $600 Million; Oaktree Managed Funds to Provide $175 Million in new capital

. will enable the company  to emerge from Chapter 11 in May 2012

General Maritime Corporation (the "Company") has announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Bankruptcy Court") confirmed the second amended joint plan of reorganization (the "Plan") of the Company and its direct and indirect subsidiaries that are debtors under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code (the "Debtors").  General Maritime currently expects to emerge from Chapter 11 in May 2012 after the conditions to effectiveness of the Plan are satisfied.

The Plan reflects the terms of a global settlement among the Company's main creditor constituencies that, among other things, provides for a meaningful recovery to the unsecured creditors of the Debtors and resolves all disputes on plan-related issues between and among the Debtors, funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. and their investment entities (the "Oaktree Funds"), the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the "Creditors' Committee"), the Company's senior secured lenders, and holders of more than 57% of the Company's Senior Notes.  All voting classes of creditors voted in favor of the Plan, with the Debtors' senior secured lenders voting unanimously in favor of the Plan and approximately 97% in amount and 69% in number of general unsecured creditors voting in favor of the Plan.

The Plan will substantially deleverage the Debtors' balance sheet and position the Debtors to be a financially stronger global enterprise post-emergence.  Through the Plan, (i) the Debtors' financial debt will be reduced by approximately $600 million, (ii) the Debtors' cash interest expense will be reduced by approximately $42 million annually, and (iii) the Debtors will receive a new equity capital infusion of approximately $175 million from the Oaktree Funds. 

 
Jeffrey D. Pribor, General Maritime's Chief Financial Officer, said, "The confirmation of our Plan represents a major milestone and is one of the last remaining steps in our restructuring.  We are proud of what we have accomplished and believe that, through this process, we will establish a foundation to emerge as a stronger and more competitive company. I would like to thank our customers and vendors for their support throughout this process as well as our employees for their ongoing to commitment to General Maritime."