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Winding Up is 9fin's weekly newsletter, incorporating summaries and commentary from our European distressed coverage for the past week. Find out more about what we do for distressed here.
Although England sadly lost its second Euros final in a row, Atos, which was the official IT sponsor of the tournament, has successfully raised the funding required for its restructuring. This 9finner watched the semi and the final in sunny Croatia among many other hopeful England fans who drowned their sorrows away by drinking beer and dancing in the sun. Ah well, there’s always the next one eh!
Off the pitch, creditors are battling it out over Swedish debt collector Intrum’s restructuring plan with Arini joining a group that sides with the company’s plan versus a group of shorter dated noteholders who have signed a coop. Intrum’s deal would exchange existing 2025-2028 SUNs for later-dated notes at a 10% haircut (for which it will compensate noteholders with a pro-rata slice of 10% of Intrum’s equity) and also repays its 2024 notes at par. More than half of the group’s 2025 notes, however, would like improved economics. Despite this opposition the company feels confident it can implement its plan through a court process.
A&Es are kicking off, with Peach Property launching a non-deal roadshow to extend its debt and Strategic Value Partnersinjecting equity into Pfleiderer to get an A&E over the line. The market is also reacting today to TalkTalk saying it's looking at proposals, which may include new funding and a potential maturity extension. Carpet maker Victoria’s bonds have also tankedin reaction to it bringing on an advisor for liability management exercise talks.
Before I left London for sweltering Croatia, I sat down with Carlos Pla, head of Hayfin’s Special Opportunities strategy to talk about the nuances of investing in European opportunities, on Cloud 9fin.
This week’s news
Atos SE — The French IT company announced on 15 July it had received €1.67bn new money debt commitments (in line with its revised target). Thus far, over half of creditors have locked up. The lockup deadline has been extended to 22 July (from 12 July initially) but the restructuring timeline remains firmly on track for a filing of Sauvegarde the following week.
Intrum — The distressed debt purchaser has had a busy week. Ariniwas among the 50.1% of bondholders that signed a lock-up in support of the company’s restructuring proposal. The shorter dated group of creditors convinced half the company’s 2025 notes to sign a co-op agreement in opposition to Intrum’s proposal. Sources dispute whether the 2025s can effectively block a deal. Intrum CEO Andrés Rubio was emphatic on a Q2 results call held on Thursday, 18 July, that “no one can block this”. In Q2 the group grew in servicing EBIT margins and income but had lower adjusted EBIT as operations shifted to the lower-margin servicing segment. Intrum also unveiled a partnership deal with Cerberus to jointly invest up to €1bn a year in unsecured consumer portfolios, which Intrum would be responsible for servicing.
Lowell— Fitch Ratings downgraded Lowell’s long-term issuer default rating from B to CCC and did the same for its senior secured debt rating. The rating agency noted the high yields on Lowell bonds as indicative of “further deterioration” in market sentiment towards highly leveraged debt purchasers. Fitch suggested this reduced options for a conventional debt financing of Lowell’s upcoming 2025 and 2026 maturities, and increased the likelihood of a debt restructuring.
Metalcorp — The mining and metals company’s restructuring was marked as completed on 9fin’s database, following finalisation of a debt exchange 18 June. Metalcorp launched an exchange offer to bondholders back in May.
Peach Property Group — The German property group’s non-deal roadshow presentation was released on Monday (15 July). Peach is looking to divest up to 21% of its portfolio — 'non-strategic assets' — with the worst in-place rent metrics and higher vacancy. Given these assets will require renovation, Peach may struggle to find a buyer. The stressed real estate group will use the roadshow to suggest an A&E of its €300m 4.375% November 2025 SUNs, which will feature a partial cash redemption of the bond while the rest will be extended, the sources said.
Pfleiderer— Strategic Value Partners, the wood product manufacturer’s sponsor, will inject €75m of equity into the business as part of an A&E deal that will extend maturities on its SSNs and FRNs by three years, from April 2026 to April 2029. Noteholders representing more than 60% of the combined principle of the company’s two series of bonds have signed up to the deal, according to a company announcement on Wednesday (17 July).
Pro-Gest— Moody's downgraded the Italian paper and packaging producer on 17 July to limited default. This follows Pro-Gest announcing the 30 day grace period for making the interest payment on its December 2024 SUNs had passed, so an event of default had occurred. The group also said it will skip the coupon payments on its privately placed Senior Secured FRNs with Carlyle as it is working on tabling a restructuring proposal to its creditors soon.
TalkTalk — Distressed telcoTalkTalk is keeping the market on hold until the last possible minute, regarding near-term maturities. With uncertainty over the external debt and equity processes, management confirmed the group is also engaged with shareholders and lenders on “alternative or complementary” proposals. Those may include new funding and a potential maturity extension. The group’s bonds have traded off 12 points since yesterday’s (18 July) earnings call.
SAS Group — The Scandinavian Airline announced today that the Stockholm District Court has approved its reorganisation plan. The sanction hearing took place on 12 July as expected. As a result, its shares and hybrid bonds will be redeemed and cancelled, which concludes its restructuring process. We have marked SAS Group profile as Completed in 9fin’s restructuring tracker.
Thames Water (Kemble/Limited) — Following last week’s draft determinations by water regulator Ofwat, the future of Thames Water is hanging in the balance. We’ve dived into some of the technical aspects of the whole business securitisation (WBS) financing package at Thames, looking at possible paths forward. Rumours swirl of an impending downgrade for the troubled UK water group's operating company, Thames Water Utilities Limited. Thames Water’s holding companies all published new articles of association on 12 July or 15 July, according to Companies House.
Victoria — The carpet and flooring specialist has hired Latham & Watkins in advance of an anticipated liability management exercise and rumours of an impending short-seller report. A Victoria spokesperson told 9fin the company is “considering various refinancing options for addressing the forthcoming maturities to ensure the best result is achieved for the company”.
Alternative investment manager Aptior Capital has brought on Taos Huskey to join the firm’s senior team in London, according to an emailed release yesterday (18 July). Huskey brings nearly 25 years of distressed and special situations investing and restructuring experience from Glendon Capital, Oaktree Capital and Bain Capital.
