Punch asks creditors to waive covenant in bid to avoid default

The pubco has asked to meet noteholders on 29 April to vote on its request.

In a statement issued this morning, the group said that since its announcement on 28 February, “Punch has continued to facilitate discussions between stakeholders with a view to reaching agreement on the terms of a consensual restructuring for the Punch A and Punch B securitisations”.

The statement went on: “While progress has been made, further time will be required to finalise the proposals with stakeholders and to permit stakeholders and their advisers to review and comment on the documentation necessary to implement them.

“To ensure that no default occurs while discussions continue, Punch A and Punch B have today given notice convening noteholder meetings to be held on 29 April 2014 for the purposes of voting on covenant waiver requests. The waivers are necessary to avoid the risk of a near-term default in both securitisations, which in the case of the Punch A securitisation is anticipated to be as early as 15 May 2014.

“The requests include temporary waivers of the Debt Service Cover Ratio covenant and certain other provisions of the securitisation documents and, if granted, will expire at the latest on 29 August 2014. It is a condition of the waivers that a restructuring is launched by 30 June 2014.”

Punch added: “The covenant waiver requests require the support of all classes of noteholders and other securitisation creditors.  There can be no assurance that the necessary noteholders and other securitisation creditors will support the covenant waiver requests, or that agreement will be reached on the terms of a consensual restructuring.”

UPDATE​

A group representing senior Punch Taverns noteholders has signalled its acceptance of the pub company’s request to waive its covenant and avoid default on its debt securitisations.

In a statement issued this morning, the ABI Senior Noteholder Committee said: “The members of the Committee find the waivers acceptable, they intend to vote in favour of the extraordinary resolutions in respect of their holdings and they will be inviting other ABI members to consider a similar course of action"