Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:23am EDT
DUBLIN, June 21 (Reuters) - Independent News & Media (INME.I) is considering launching an emergency rights issue to raise funds towards refinancing an imminent 200 million euro ($278.4 million) bond, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.
The scale of the issue -- which the newspaper says is being discussed this week -- is expected to be less than 100 million euros but the discount to the current share price may be steep.
The Sunday Times said an offer to buy out t
he bondholders consisting of a 30 million euro cash payment funded by IN&M's key shareholders, telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien and former Chief Executive Anthony O'Reilly, and a new bond was rejected last week.
A spokesman for Independent News declined to comment.
Independent News faces a June 26 deadline to resolve the bond payment, originally meant to be paid in May, before lenders gave the group a grace period.
Independent's Chief Executive Gavin O'Reilly told the Dublin-based group's AGM earlier this month that it was working to avert the "sobering" scenario of a default.
He said the grace period would have to be extended because time has already run out for the 21 day notification period required for a formal agreement with creditors.
The media group, which has built up a debt pile of 1.4 billion euros through overseas expansion, has been hit hard by a a collapse in advertising as the world economy reels from recession. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Rupert Winchester)
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