Australian-listed drilling services company Boart Longyear Ltd said on Thursday it had agreed to a restructuring deal worth up to $352 million with U.S. investor Centerbridge Partners to reduce debt and cut the risk of a potential default.

Boart, the world's largest supplier of drilling equipment and services, has been under pressure as miners scale back spending on exploration due to crumbling commodity prices and weaker demand.

In February, Utah-based Boart, saddled with $600 million in debt and with half its rigs idled, hired restructuring advisers to explore its options to avoid insolvency.

Boart said the new restructuring plan involved up to $225 million in new "covenant lite" term loans and up to $127 million in new equity.

"We anticipate the recapitalisation will provide the company with significant liquidity to better weather the challenges of the current depressed markets for our drilling services and products and the financial strength to allow more time for those markets to recover," Boart Longyear Chief Executive Richard O'Brien said in a statement.

New York-based private equity investor Centerbridge, which was involved in the bailout of debt-laden Australian surfwear company Billabong International Ltd, will pay $27 million to increase its stake in Boart to 37 percent from around 12.7 percent currently. All shareholders will then be eligible to take part in a renounceable rights offer to raise up to $84 million, underwritten by Centerbridge.

Boart will launch a buyback of up to $105 million of its senior secured notes as part of the deal.

Shares of Boart closed on Wednesday at A$0.15, having tumbled 65 percent in the past year, valuing the company at $60.7 million.

The 124-year-old firm posted a net loss of $38.3 million for the third quarter as revenues fell 15 percent to $239 million.