Beazer Homes USA said it has reached an agreement with creditors that enables it to avoid being in default on loans.
The homebuilder could have been forced to pay lenders immediately because it has failed to file financial reports in a timely fashion as the Securities and Exchange Commission probes the company’s own lending practices.
Under the agreement, Beazer will pay $18 million to holders of the company’s $1.53 billion in senior notes and senior convertible notes, according to Bloomberg’s calculations. Also under the deal, the company cannot borrow more than $700,000 unless it meets certain financial conditions.
The trustee for Beazer’s senior notes sent the company default notices in September because it hadn’t yet filed its June 30 quarterly report. The trustee told Beazer it would be in default if it didn’t file within 60 days.
The company had maintained that it was not in default, asserting that under the terms of its note contract, it must only deliver copies of its SEC reports to the trustee within 15 days after the reports are filed with the SEC.
In August, Beazer reported it would delay the filing of its June quarterly report as a result of the findings of an internal probe into its mortgage-origination business. Three months earlier, Beazer had disclosed the SEC was making an informal inquiry to determine whether any person or entity related to the company had violated federal securities laws.