Germany’s Tele Columbus is to sell its subsidiary Orion Cable for just E2.5m to a special purpose vehicle bankrolled by the company’s lenders.
According to the Financial Times an agreement was reached to negate the need for Tele Columbus to auction its…
Germany’s Tele Columbus is to sell its subsidiary Orion Cable for just E2.5m to a special purpose vehicle bankrolled by the company’s lenders.
According to the Financial Times an agreement was reached to negate the need for Tele Columbus to auction its shares having breached loan covenants in December. Last August the heavily indebted Orion had reached a E920m standstill agreement with its creditors in order to restructure its debts. But that expired in November and lenders subsequently began a process to take control of the firm.
Orion’s creditors, which include Alcentra, York Capital, Golden Tree and Bank of Ireland, proposed the idea of exchanging debt for equity but this was rejected by the company’s owners, led by the investor Scott Lanphere who reportedly demanded E50m from the creditors in compensation to write off the debt.
The special purpose vehicle has already appointed Frank Niklaus from Niklaus & Co as an independent director.
The process is due to be finalised by the end of March.