Distressed Debt - European High Yield Forum

Thames Water

Slogger — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:41:30 +0000

Thames Water shareholders withdrew support following demands from UK regulator Ofwat to reduce the company's debt and make structural changes estimated to cost up to £8bn.

· Shareholders, including sovereign wealth funds, resisted Ofwat's demands, leading to a default by Thames Water's parent company.

· Ofwat's conditions, including reducing the gearing ratio, were seen as burdensome by investors, who felt blindsided.

· Thames Water now faces debt restructuring or potential renationalization amid public discontent over sewage pollution.

· Initial proposals by investors for bill increases and regulatory fines were rejected by Ofwat.

· Despite financial struggles, Thames Water has sufficient cash for 15 months but requires substantial investment for infrastructure improvements. The regulator's draft decision on business plans, including bill increases, is due in June, with a final decision at year-end.

Eros

thegr8destructo — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:34:17 +0000

Brief thoughts on the unsecured Eros 8.5% '23s XS1112834608

Any Eros restructuring needs to be coordinated and led by Institutional investors to accelerate the bonds with a minimum threshold of 20% being needed to start discussions around restructuring/ recovery.

Any solution will likely need to have them on board - if that happens the Trustee can be instructed to contact Eros and start negotiations around recovery/ restructuring.

The bonds have already been restructured once having had their maturity extended and covenants suspended - this was a poor outcome in itself, so there is no guarantee that institutional investors will act rationally.

There is a dedicated discord channel for EROS bondholders here with the Trustee having put existing bondholders that wanted to be in touch with other bondholders. Speak to @alphajo if you would like to get access.

Hopefully, the institutional investors with the requisite holdings will instruct the Trustee and there will be some kind of public announcement once this has occurred.

Outside of the discord channel feel free to use EHYO for comments /questions on the topic.

EROS IR site can be found here: https://www.erosmediaworld.com/investors/ and I have attached the Prospectus and docs/consent from the first restructuring.

There are unaudited accounts for EROS International Media Limited to 30th September 2022 - these are worth a read - the Securities and Exchange Board of India has appointed a forensic auditor to verify the financial accounts for this entity for FY 18,19 and 20.

The bonds are issued out of Eros Media PLC and Eros International Media is its Indian Subsidiary.

Eros Media PLC still has to file its financials - the last numbers were for '21 9M in Feb '22 so getting upto date financials would be high up the list when and if EROS can be brought to the table.

WASPS Retail bond

thegr8destructo — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:59:03 +0000

I have just seen Wasps are looking for an administrator- is anyone involved? I had a look at them a while back and have to say I was surprised they were able to / allowed to issue a retail bond - business rarely posted positive EBITDA (see attached financial summary)

I will post a case study in the blog section in the next month as I think it is an interesting story. The Delisting of the bonds is a bit sketchy imho - what is the benefit to the retail investor.

Anyway - if anyone has any Qs/ thoughts happy to take a look /discuss them.

wasps.jpg