NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - Shared office space

provider WeWork ( WEWOQ ) announced on Monday a settlement with its junior

creditors and a new cash infusion from its senior lenders,

moving ahead with a bankruptcy deal that rejects a $650 million

offer from co-founder and former owner Adam Neumann.

During a hearing in Newark, New Jersey, U.S. Bankruptcy

Judge John Sherwood signed off on the New York-based,

SoftBank-backed company sending its restructuring plan to a

creditor vote, putting it on track to exit bankruptcy by the end

of May.

The restructuring, now supported by all of WeWork's ( WEWOQ ) major

creditors, would hand the company's equity to its senior lenders

and cancel its $4 billion in debt.

The revised bankruptcy deal includes up to $450 million in

new funding from SoftBank, a group of senior

bondholders that includes King Street Capital, and Cupar

Grimmond, a company affiliated with WeWork ( WEWOQ ) technology partner

Yardi Systems.

After the restructuring, Cupar Grimmond would own a majority

of WeWork's ( WEWOQ ) equity, and SoftBank would have 16.5%, although

SoftBank's share could rise to as high as 36%, depending on how

WeWork ( WEWOQ ) decides to equitize some separate credit facilities it

has funded.

Steven Serajeddini, a lawyer for WeWork ( WEWOQ ), said at Monday's

hearing that the company reached settlements over the weekend to

win the support of two factions of junior creditors that

previously opposed its restructuring deal, including a

court-appointed creditors committee and a group of bondholders

including Antara Capital. In exchange for their support, WeWork ( WEWOQ )

agreed to pay $32.5 million to its junior creditors, including

$8.5 million to the bondholders.

WeWork ( WEWOQ ) used its bankruptcy to negotiate a significant

reduction in future rent costs from its landlords, ultimately

reaching deals to save $8 billion. WeWork ( WEWOQ ) canceled leases at

about 160 of its 450 locations during bankruptcy.

Neumann and his new company, Flow Global, have argued that

WeWork ( WEWOQ ) is selling its equity to "hand-picked" insiders instead

of trying to get the highest bid.

Neumann's attorney Susheel Kirpalani said at Monday's

hearing that the $450 million provided by WeWork's ( WEWOQ ) lenders was

really a sale of the company's equity, disguised as a bankruptcy

loan. If the company was for sale, it should have engaged with

Neumann, Kirpalani said.

The judge disagreed, saying that WeWork's ( WEWOQ ) secured lenders

had the right to reject Neumann's offer if it was not high

enough to buy out the debt they are owed. Sherwood said he would

not "second-guess" the decision by those lenders to take WeWork ( WEWOQ )

equity in exchange for canceling the debt they are owed.

"There might be a number at which the secured lenders would

cash out, but we know now it's not $650 million," Sherwood said.

WeWork ( WEWOQ ), once valued at $47 billion, expanded at breakneck

speed but racked up steep losses before filing for bankruptcy

protection in November 2023. The company estimates that its

post-bankruptcy equity is worth about $750 million.