Irish incumbent Eircom has set a 12 March deadline for bids in a last ditch attempt to find a buyer to help restructure €3.75bn (US$4.92bn) of debt, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
The company has mandated Morgan Stanley to find a buyer, according …
Irish incumbent Eircom has set a 12 March deadline for bids in a last ditch attempt to find a buyer to help restructure €3.75bn (US$4.92bn) of debt, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
The company has mandated Morgan Stanley to find a buyer, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg.
Eircom’s first-lien lenders, who are being advised by Houlihan Lokey, will tomorrow vote on a further extension of its banking covenant waiver, which is due to expire at the end of January, after previously being pushed back from 15 December 2011.
Investor group Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) owns 65% of the company, with employee share trust ESOT holding the remaining 35% stake.
Late last year Eircom announced that a restructuring proposal by STT had been rejected by a majority of its first lien lenders, leaving it to consider one proposal each from its first and second lien debt holders.
Unconfirmed reports suggest its first lien lenders envisage an 8% haircut on their €2.36bn of loans, in a process that could see them take control of the group.
In any case, even if Eircom’s renewed sale offer falls through, it will still be able to fall back on the proposals that have already been submitted by these lenders.
