DTEK noteholders OK restructuring, scheme of arrangement sanctioned

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Dec. 28 – DTEK’s existing noteholders approved the company’s long-term restructuring plan and DTEK’s noteholder scheme of arrangement was sanctioned by the High Court of Justice Chancery Division of England and Wales, according to a news release.

Issuance of new notes was expected to occur on Dec. 29.

The plan was approved unanimously by the noteholders who were present and voting at a Dec. 19 meeting, representing a significant 88.96% majority of total outstanding noteholders.

DTEK said the resulting extension of the notes maturity date by about eight years will allow the financial standing of the company to be stabilized, support its debt service obligations and develop the operations of the group.

Under the terms of the new notes, $750 million of 7 7/8% senior notes and $160 million of 10 3/8% senior notes will be merged into one single series of new 10¾% notes.

The new notes will mature on Dec. 31, 2024 and will be repaid in two installments, with 50% to be repaid in December 2023 and the rest upon maturity.

“We highly appreciate our investors’ support and are very thankful for that,” chief executive officer Maksim Timchenko said in the release.

“We also hope that the transaction will boost the investors’ confidence in the Ukrainian corporate sector more globally.”

In addition, DTEK said discussions with its bank lenders “have significantly progressed,”

Following the launch of an exchange offer under which existing bank lenders could elect to swap part of their bank debt exposure into the new notes up to a maximum total amount of $300 million, subject to binding themselves to the restructuring terms, the company said a substantive majority of lenders have provided their support to the bank debt restructuring proposal.

The exchange offer is still in progress, the release said.

The DTEK Group operates the largest privately owned energy company in Ukraine. DTEK Finance plc made a Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing on Dec. 16 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York under case number 16-13521.

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