After a year winding through the bankruptcy courts, Frontier Communications said it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 protection on April 30.
Frontier filed for bankruptcy protection on April 15, 2020. Earlier this month it said it had received all the necessary approvals for its reorganization plan, which includes swapping about $10.2 billion in debt for equity, and investing about $1.4 billion to build out its fiber network.
Frontier added that its new common stock will begin trading on the NASDAQ exchange on May 4, under the symbol “FYBR.”
“Frontier is ready to set a new course as a revitalized public company. Through the restructuring process, the company has stabilized its business and recapitalized its balance sheet, while making significant progress on the early stages of implementing our initial fiber expansion plan,” said John Stratton, incoming Executive Chairman of the Board. “Frontier’s success with the Fiber-to-the-Home pilot program, which upgraded more than 60,000 locations from copper to fiber optic service in 2020, is just one example of the important work already underway. Frontier’s future is bright. I’m eager to work closely with our new Board, our CEO Nick Jeffery, and the rest of the leadership team to build the new Frontier.”
The company said it will hold a conference call, which will be webcast, on April 30 (Friday) at 10 a.m. ET to discuss the path forward and Q1 results.
The new eight-member board of directors will be led by Stratton and Jeffery, who joined Frontier in December after serving as CEO of British wireless company Vodafone UK. The remaining six independent board members are: Astra Capital founding partner and 2B Partners CEO Kevin Beebe; Coca Cola SVP and chief people officer Lisa Chang; former Liberty Media SVP, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary Pamela Coe; former Vodafone chief technology officer and current senior advisor to Bridge Growth Partners Stephen Pusey; former NFL chief operating officer and current senior advisor to the infrastructure division of Brookfield Asset Management Maryann Turcke; and Kaiser Foundation (Kaiser Permanente) SVP and chief digital officer Pratabkumar “Prat” Vemana.
“The future of Frontier is an innovative, modern technology company, poised to deliver next-generation fiber-rich infrastructure for our customers and communities,” Jeffery said in a press release. “Upon emergence, we will have the capital structure and resources to establish Frontier as a digital leader with top-tier talent and an entrepreneurial, high-performance culture. I want to express my appreciation to all our stakeholders who have enabled this process. Our team looks forward to beginning our next phase of long-term growth and value creation across the business.”
