Statoil Fuel & Retail does not get OK to redeem floaters, 5.25% notes

By Angela McDaniels

Tacoma, Wash., June 5 - Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA said no noteholders attended the meetings it held on June 5 in Oslo.

This was the company's second failed attempt to gain approval to fully redeem its remaining NOK 15 million of senior open floating-rate notes due 2017 and NOK 13 million of 5.25% senior open bonds due 2019. No bondholders attended its May 21 meetings either.

As previously reported, on June 19, 2012, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. gained control of more than 50% of Statoil Fuel & Retail's share capital, which constituted a change-of-control event. As a consequence, bondholders had the right to put back their bonds at par. The put option expired on Sept. 25, 2012.

Holders put back NOK 976.5 million of the floating-rate notes and NOK 379 million of the 5.25% notes.

Following the put exercise, the company opted to repurchase another NOK 108.5 million of the floating-rate notes and NOK 8 million of the 5.25% notes.

The remaining outstanding notes represent 1.36% and 3.25%, respectively, of the initial outstanding amount of floating-rate notes and 5.25% notes.

Statoil Fuel & Retail previously said that fully redeeming the bond issues is an attractive solution for bondholders because of the drop in company ratings after the change of control. When the notes were issued, Statoil Fuel & Retail was a stock-listed company, and the majority of shares were held by Statoil ASA, which is rated AA- by Standard & Poor's. Statoil Fuel & Retail subsequently received a BB+ rating from two independent banks.

After the change of control, the company became a non-listed, wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Canadian company with a BBB- credit rating from Standard & Poor's.

Furthermore, the bonds have limited liquidity due to so few being left outstanding, the company said in a notice from bond trustee Norsk Tillitsmann ASA. The bonds have not traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange since June 2012, other than the company's repurchases.

Statoil Fuel & Retail is a fuel and related products retailer based in Oslo.

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