French building materials group Consolis is close to completing its restructuring, which will see Bain hand over the keys to its creditors, and is just waiting on regulatory approvals to get it over the line.

After almost a year of negotiations, UK energy services firm Petrofac announced on Friday (27 September) that it finally reached an agreement with certain creditors, which will involve new money in the form of debt and equity, an equitisation of the “majority” of its debt.

The UK courts sanctioned UK cinema chain Cineworld’s restructuring plan on Monday (30 September), which impaired the rent of its underlying sites and extends its term loan by six months. 9fin’s deep dive on this case is here.

German agriculture group Baywa bought itself some more time (until year end) to come up with a restructuring plan, which was due last month, by obtaining a further €500m from its lenders (on top of the €272m obtained in August).

Meanwhile, US fund Elliott decided to get back on board with extending the co-op agreement signed by the secured creditors of Altice France until February 2026. Negotiations are still ongoing between the company and the creditors on the size of the haircut required to bring its leverage down to 4x. 9fin understands the group is also holding talks with its unsecured creditors and third parties.

In the macro landscape, the unwielding conflict in the Middle East is seeping into the financial markets as oil prices rose roughly 10% in the past week. The knock on effect of higher oil prices as we all know spells higher inflation.

The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey told the Guardian that he is watching these political developments closely as it may make oil prices difficult to control, leaving the global economy vulnerable to a 1970s-style energy shock.

On the flip side if inflation remains stable, the Bank of England could be a “bit more aggressive” in cutting rates.

This week’s news

Accell — Dutch bike manufacturer reached a binding agreement to restructure its business, according to an announcement from Thursday, 3 October. The terms of the deal cut around €600m of Accell’s total debt, while leaving sponsor KKR in-place as majority shareholder. Accell also released its Q2 results, with leverage hitting 11.8x and negative €18m EBITDA (normalised up to €20m). Read more here.

Accentro — the German real estate company’s sponsor Brookline Real Estate is preparing to hand over the keys to either the group’s 2026 bondholders, or Korean bank Shinhan, as it considers the two parties’ restructuring proposals. A source close to the company said that it hopes to come to an agreement by the end of this month.

Altice France — Elliott is now supporting the extension of the French Telco’s secured co-op agreement to February 2026, after previously holding out on the extension, three sources close have told 9fin. Over 90% of the senior secured creditor group, which is holding over €17bn of the group’s €20bn of secured debt, agreed to extend by the deadline on Monday (30 September).

BayWa — the German agriculture conglomerate expects to secure additional €500m in bridge financing from its stakeholders, while also extending to the end of the year the debt standstill which was initially negotiated until the end of September. “The necessary signatures of the main lending banks will be obtained in the upcoming days,” the company said in a statement.

Cineworld — Cinema chain’s UK group restructuring was sanction by the English courts on Monday, 30 September. This was in spite of objections from two landlords, with whom Cineworld had signed agreements last year not to compromise their leases. Mr Justice Miles did allow the creditors permission to appeal is decision, owing to the novel nature of their claim. See 9fin’s analysis of the judgment here. See Freddie Doust’s analysis of the judgment here.

Consolis — French concrete manufacturer is waiting on a string of approvals to finalise its restructuring transaction, which garnered enough support to be implemented without a legal process earlier this year. 9fin sources said that the deal is due to complete sometime this month.

Demire — The German commercial real estate landlord is set to wrap up its creative A&E in the coming weeks. We look at the attractive potential outcomes for bondholders who have backstopped a discounted tender post-close and the mid-teens IRRs available on the new take-back notes.

Steward Health Care — The healthcare operator closed on its Massachusetts hospital sales after a fight over sale proceeds allocation between Apollo and its FILO lenders was resolved by the Commonwealth contributing more money to close the deal. Government contractor Brighton Marine got the court to terminate its contract which Steward had been trying to use as an asset in hospital sales. Steward received approval to sell three hospitals (Mountain Vista Medical Center, Florence Hospital and Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital) located in Arizona at a hearing held on 3 October. Approval for the sale of two more hospitals is pending next week.

Petrofac — The UK-listed energy service firm has reached an agreement in-principle with some of its creditors and clients that could see an end to its nearly year-long restructuring negotiations, according to an announcement released on Friday, 27 September. The restructuring proposals feature new money in the form of debt and equity, the equitisiation of the majority of Petrofac’s indebtness and reduced requirement for performance guarantees. Read more here.

Headlines

3 October — Demire backstop and take-back economics look attractive — Analysis (9fin)

4 October — Brookline to hand over keys in Accentro’s third restructuring (9fin)

4 October — Roll credits! Pari passu and public policy take centre stage in Cineworld’s restructuring plan (9fin)

3 October — Accell peddles new capital structure (9fin)

3 October — Steward Health gets approval to sell three Arizona hospitals (9fin)

3 October — Top of the Flops — European Distressed Watchlist September 2024 (9fin)

2 October — Steward judge grants Brighton Marine’s request to terminate contract (9fin)

2 October — Consolis restructuring nears completion (9fin)

2 October — Accell rides close to 12x leverage in Q2 24 (9fin)

1 October — Elliott flips to supporting Altice France co-op extension (9fin)

30 September — Petrofac close to breaking performance guarantee deadlock with restructuring deal (9fin)

30 September — Cineworld restructuring plans sanctioned, landlords granted right to appeal (9fin)

30 September — Judge releases escrow dollars to close sale of Steward Massachusetts hospitals (9fin)

30 September — BayWa to secure €500m in financing and extension to standstill (9fin)

Lateral moves

Clifford Chance welcomed one of Germany’s best-known restructuring lawyers Kolja von Bismarck to their German restructuring & insolvency practice on Tuesday (1 October). Bismarck will join Patrick Schulz and Andreas Steiger who joined as partners in June.

Weekly Declines

Top bond movers (link to full screener in 9fin)

Top loan movers (link to full screener in 9fin)

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