Nobilis Health Corp. N.HLTH

H

[scarface9]

Houston-based Nobilis Health Corp. closed its corporate headquarters office, the latest closure for the company, according to information provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.

Nobilis permanently closed its corporate facility at 11700 Katy Freeway effective Sept. 13, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter the TWC released Oct. 4. Of the nine total employees working at the corporate office, five were immediately terminated Sept. 13, per the WARN letter. Two employees were expected to stay on until Sept. 27, and the remaining two employees were scheduled to be let go effective Oct. 4, per the letter. The job titles of affected positions were redacted in the letter.

As previously reported, Nobilis closed the Surgeon's Premier Medical Center facility at 1211 Highway 6 in Sugar Land effective Sept. 13, according to a Sept. 13 regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Related to that closure,

Nobilis cut 36 jobs at the facility, according to a separate WARN letter released Oct. 4. Of the total 36 employees working at the Sugar Land location, 32 positions were immediately terminated Sept. 13. The remaining four employees were released Oct. 4, per the letter. The affected job titles at the Sugar Land facility were also redacted in the letter.

Both WARN letters were signed by Daniel Wiggins, chief restructuring officer at Nobilis and a principal at financial and operation consultancy MorrisAnderson. Wiggins did not respond to the Houston Business Journal's inquiries related to the job cuts at the time of publication.

The WARN letters noted that the company believes it could be excused from providing such notice to the state because of the "faltering business" and "unforeseeable business circumstances" exceptions to the WARN Act.
 

"Nobilis has been working diligently for some time to improve its financial performance and to obtain financing solutions," the letters state. "In fact, a particular party had signed a Letter of Intent agreeing to purchase Nobilis' bank debt at a significant discount and to provide interim restructuring financing. However, that party recently and unexpectedly decided not to purchase Nobilis' debt, and, as a result, Nobilis has determined that it no longer possesses adequate financing to continue operations" at the Sugar Land and corporate facilities.

On Sept. 24, the 44th Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas, ordered the appointment of Howard Marc Spector as the temporary receiver for the assets of Nobilis and its subsidiaries, according to a Sept. 27 SEC filing. Spector, a partner and bankruptcy attorney at Dallas-based Spector & Johnson PLLC, assumed jurisdiction over all of Nobilis' assets and proceeds from those assets effective Sept. 24.

Also in the Sept. 27 filing, Nobilis disclosed that BBVA USA, formerly BBVA Compass Bank

, is demanding payment related to the company's credit agreement. Over the past few months, Nobilis and the Birmingham, Alabama-based bank had been entering into forbearance agreements, which prevented BBVA from taking action related to Nobilis defaulting on the credit agreement. However, the fourth forbearance agreement expired on Aug. 30, according to the Sept. 27 filing. On Sept. 24, BBVA delivered a notice terminating the forbearance period and demanding payment of over $123.2 million related to the credit agreement, per the filing. Also in the notice, BBVA requested the payment of $7.75 million related to matured loans in Nobilis' super priority credit agreement, among other interests and expenses, per the filing.
 

Meanwhile, Nobilis has closed other facilities over the past month, as well. In addition to the corporate facility and Sugar Land location, Nobilis also has closed:

• Kirby Surgical Center at 9300 Kirby Drive in Houston, effective Sept. 27
• Plano Surgical Hospital in Plano, Texas, effective Sept. 27
• Uptown Surgery Center of Plano Surgical Hospital in Dallas, effective Sept. 27
• Scottsdale Liberty Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, effective Sept. 13

Several top executives at Nobilis also have departed recently:

• Kenneth Efird resigned as president of Nobilis effective Sept. 13.

• Brandon Moreno, formerly CFO, resigned effective Sept. 6.
• Marissa Arreola, formerly chief legal officer, resigned effective Sept. 6.
• Harry Fleming, who served as CEO from January 2016 to December 2018, resigned as an executive of Nobilis on May 16 but remained chairman of the board of directors.
• James Springfield, who had been CEO for less than five months, resigned May 7.

The NYSE American LLC stock exchange began the process to delist Nobilis by suspending trading of the company's stock after markets closed Sept. 3. The company decided not to appeal the delisting, which was expected to become effective Sept. 23.

Nobilis Health Corp. posted revenue of nearly $300 million in 2017, according to its 2017 annual report — the most recent annual report filed by the company.