It was a big week for corporate lawyers and a bad week for equity holders. Across the micro-cap space, we saw a masterclass in balance sheet triage: Chapter 15 reorganizations, forbearance agreements priced in predatory preferreds, and death spiral conversions. When a company starts printing shares just to get lenders to stop calling, the equity is already a zombie. Here is the week in distress.
New Fortress Energy (NFE)
The Filing: New Fortress completed a UK-based restructuring plan (recognized via Chapter 15) that splits the company into BrazilCo and CoreCo, wiping out $5.7 billion in debt. Existing shareholders retain just 35% of the remaining CoreCo assets.
The Fallout: Management calls the new setup "streamlined". Shareholders call it a wipeout. A stock that traded at $57 in January cratered to $0.33 before the company halted trading last week to force through a 1-for-50 reverse split, effective Monday, September 14. New preferred equity is being issued to creditors, diluting the common even further. The balance sheet is fixed, but the original equity holders paid the bill.
Karyopharm Therapeutics (KPTI)
The Filing: After missing a $15.8 million principal payment, Karyopharm begged its lenders for a forbearance agreement. The toll was steep: $20 million in 0% convertible preferred stock priced at $1,000 per share, convertible into common at $1.62, complete with a redemption put right.
The Fallout: The company bought exactly one month of oxygen. The forbearance expires on October 15, and Karyopharm openly admitted its cash runway ends on that exact date absent a cash injection. The entire company now hinges on an FDA supplemental approval for selinexor or a last-minute buyout. If neither happens by mid-October, bankruptcy is the only remaining exit.
XCF Global (SAFX)
The Filing: XCF entered into a series of toxic debt amendments, issuing millions of shares to clear old notes. The financing terms include a 25% Original Issue Discount, non-refundable share-based commitment fees, and conversions triggering at $0.10 and $0.24.
The Fallout: This is a textbook death spiral. The stock is hovering near $0.41 as XCF uses its equity as a bottomless ATM to pay off creditors like Hollywood Horizons and Narrow Road Capital. Meanwhile, the company delayed its upcoming shareholder meetings to late September for a proposed three-way merger with DevvStream and Southern Energy. They are scrambling to close the deal before the equity fully bleeds out.
Barinthus Biotherapeutics (BRNS)
The Filing: Barinthus completed a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement to be taken private by Beacon Topco. The deposit agreement was terminated, and the stock is delisted from the Nasdaq.
The Fallout: The BRNS ticker is dead. Former shareholders were handed 0.111 shares of Beacon Topco common stock for every Barinthus share they owned. Insider options have already been swapped over to the new parent entity, which is expected to trade under the ticker CLYD. It is an unceremonious, quiet exit for a standalone biotech that ran out of road.
Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMOQ)
The Filing: Operating under Chapter 11 protection, Sangamo finalized the sale of its core AAV capsid and zinc finger platforms to Eli Lilly for $50 million in cash. PTC Therapeutics took the Fabry disease program for $111 million.
The Fallout: The Eli Lilly transaction officially closed on September 4. Sangamo is now reduced to filing monthly operating reports in Delaware bankruptcy court. The company is actively warning retail investors that trading its OTC stock is "highly speculative" and that the market price bears zero relationship to any actual recovery. Naturally, people are still trading it anyway.
What to Watch
Mark October 15 on your calendar for Karyopharm. That is a hard deadline for a strategic miracle or a Chapter 11 filing. Also, keep an eye on how CLYD performs as it inherits Barinthus's cap table. Until next week, watch the debt maturities.