Argentina's Edenor announces early settlement of tender offer, exchange for 10½% notes due 2017

By Jennifer Chiou

New York, Oct. 25 - Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte SA (Edenor) announced the early settlement of its simultaneous exchange offer and cash tender offer for its 10½% senior notes due 2017.

As of the early participation deadline, 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 20, holders had tendered for exchange $90,251,000, or 60.7%, of the outstanding notes, excluding the $65.3 million held by the company and canceled on Oct. 18. By the same deadline, $32,393,000, or 21.8%, of the notes had been tendered for purchase.

In total, $122,644,000, or 82.5%, of the notes have been tendered, and the company accepted all tendered securities on Monday.

Those figures are unchanged from Oct. 20, but are up from the $86,104,000 tendered for exchange and $30,643,000 tendered for purchase by 11 a.m. ET on Oct. 15.

In the exchange offer, Edenor is offering new 9¾% senior notes due 2022 plus cash in exchange for the existing 10½% notes.

The company issued $90,251,000 of new notes and paid $9,527,497.23, including accrued interest, for the tenders for exchange. It paid $34,487,747.35, including interest, for the notes tendered for cash.

The withdrawal and early participation deadline for the exchange offer was 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 20, previously pushed back from 11 a.m. ET on Oct. 15.

For each $1,000 principal amount in the exchange, the company is offering an equal amount of the 9¾% notes plus $100.90 of cash for notes tendered by the early deadline. Previously, the company was offering $1,030 of the new notes and $70.90 in cash for early tenders.

After the early participation deadline, Edenor is offering $1,000 principal amount of new notes plus $80.90 cash until the exchange offer expiration.

Under the tender offer, the company will pay $1,060 for each $1,000 principal amount of 10½% notes tendered by the early participation deadline. Holders who tender after the early deadline but by the tender expiration will receive $1,045 per note.

The offers will expire at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 1. They began on Oct. 1.

In addition, the company already announced an at least $150 million offering of the new notes due 2022 on Oct. 1. The proceeds of the concurrent offer will be used to finance the purchase offer.

The offers are being made only to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933 and non-U.S. investors under Regulation S.

The settlements of the offers are conditioned on the issuance of at least $150 million principal amount of 9¾% notes on the early settlement date in the concurrent offer and the exchange offer combined.

The company said that it expects the final settlement date to be Nov. 4.

Global Bondholder Services Corp. (866 470-4200 or collect at 212 430-3774) is the information agent and the exchange agent.

The issuer is an electricity distribution company based in Buenos Aires.

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