2nd UPDATE: Fleet Street Bondholders To Meet On Berggruen Offer
August 11 2010 - 1:13PM
Dow Jones News
Bondholders who own the debt of insolvent German retailer
Karstadt's properties have called another special meeting in
London, scheduled Sept. 2, to discuss some of the terms of
billionaire investor Nicholas Berggruen's takeover offer, according
to a notice from the group seen by Dow Jones Newswires on
Wednesday.
The bondholders group, which represents senior class A
noteholders in the Fleet Street Finance Two PLC securitization, has
called the meeting ahead of an Essen court deadline to reach an
agreement with Berggruen over his takeover plan by midnight Sept.
2.
Included in the bondholders' notice is an agreement on behalf of
the creditors to approve a takeover plan with another bidder in the
event that the Karstadt deal with Berggruen falls through, assuming
that such deal terms looked acceptable to bondholders.
The clause in the bondholders' notice is an effort by creditors
to expedite the sales process in the event that a deal with
Berggruen falls through and a bid from another interested party is
considered in its place.
Italian investor Maurizio Borletti appeared with a last-minute
bid for Karstadt last week. Karstadt's insolvency administrator,
Klaus Hubert Goerg, has already said it is too late to consider
alternative bids for Karstadt, including the one made by
Borletti.
Bondholders reached a tentative agreement on issues like rental
reductions with Berggruen during a previous meeting in July, but
require another meeting for the creditors to sign off on technical
details in Berggruen's takeover plan.
Failure to reach a final agreement would put Karstadt at serious
risk of liquidation, threatening the closure of more than 100
stores around Germany and the loss of around 25,000 jobs.
Goerg granted another three-week extension to the negotiation
process Tuesday.
-By William Launder, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29725 500;
djnews.frankfurt@dowjones.com