Davis Polk is advising the joint lead arranger, bookrunner and administrative agent for a $100 million superpriority secured debtor-in-possession ABL credit facility (with a $50 million letter of credit subfacility, the “Verso DIP Facility”) for Verso Corporation and certain of its affiliates (“Verso”). The Verso DIP Facility was approved by an interim order entered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on January 27, 2016. The initial funding of the Verso DIP Facility and Verso’s cash on hand were used to refinance Verso’s borrowings under its prepetition ABL credit facility, and existing letters of credit issued under Verso’s prepetition ABL credit facility were immediately deemed letters of credit issued under the Verso DIP Facility. The interim order also approved priming liens for the lenders under the Verso DIP Facility and approved an adequate protection package for secured creditors of Verso.

Verso Corporation is one of the leading North American producers of printing and specialty papers, and high-quality market pulp. The debtors own eight mills located in Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with approximately 5,200 employees, and supplies products and services to end users, brokers and merchants, printers and converters. To increase production and operational synergies, Verso completed an acquisition of NewPage Corporation (“NewPage”) in January of 2015. Verso Paper Management LP, a controlled affiliate of Apollo Management Holdings GP, LLC, owns approximately 44% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Verso Corporation. Verso and NewPage filed for protection under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on January 26, 2016, and their cases are being jointly administered pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 1015(b).

The Davis Polk insolvency and restructuring team includes partner Brian M. Resnick and associates Darren S. Klein and Daniel M. Silberger. The credit team includes partner Kenneth J. Steinberg and associates Jeong M. Oh and Michael Fan. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.

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