LUXEMBOURG: Altice International has asked a group of secured creditors to send a copy of the cooperation agreement that binds them to act together in negotiations with the company before starting any potential discussions to restructure its balance sheet, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg.
Because these creditor pacts prevent lenders from negotiating with the company directly, Altice International asked to have a copy to understand “the nature of any future engagement” between the company and the creditors in the group.
It also asked for the identities of each member of the secured creditors group, whether there is a steering committee of members, and the size of the holdings of each member and the group as a whole.
The request, sent on Dec 5 by the company’s Luxembourg counsel, was in response to a Dec 2 letter from advisers of the creditors.
It’s the first written exchange between Altice International and the secured creditor group, days after the company announced that it had moved two of its units out of the reach of creditors, and raised new debt from one of them.
The secured creditor group’s advisers have reached out to the company and its advisers several times since last year to address controversial transactions by the Altice Group and to open discussions about the company’s leveraged capital structure.
The company’s letter said it “does not accept the assertion that your clients have sought to open discussions ‘in good faith’ and to engage ‘in constructive dialogue’”.
It alleged that “so-called ‘constructive’ engagement has been limited to you sending four unfounded letters over a period of 18 months”, some of them addressed to managers in companies of the group that are not part of the term loan credit agreement or the bond indentures. — Bloomberg
