Lauritz.com gets holder approval to change terms of corporate bonds

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., June 28 – Lauritz.com A/S said holders of its 7½% corporate bonds approved a proposal that incorporates previously announced transactions and amends a proposal adopted by bondholders on Feb. 25, according to a news release.

Holders of about SEK 143.8 million, or 45.3%, of the bonds voted. The voting procedure was quorate, as the minimum had been set at 20%.

Of these, around SEK 143 million voted yes, meaning about 99.5% voted in favor of the proposal and that the proposal has been accepted. The proposal needed at least two-thirds of the votes to approve for it to pass.

The new amended bond terms have been accepted and will now be implemented, the company said.

“The adoption of the redefined terms for the bonds will secure the financial situation for the group of Lauritz.com in the coming years, allowing management to focus on growing and optimizing the business in a market with a considerate further potential,” the company said in the release.

The new approved terms include

• Write-down of the outstanding aggregate nominal amount by about SEK 118 million to about SEK 200 million;

• Amendment of the interest rate to a blended rate where a nominal amount of about SEK 70 million bears a fixed interest rate of 7½% and a nominal amount of SEK 130 million bears a fixed interest rate of 4%, from a floating rate of Stibor plus 750 basis points previously. Redemptions will firstly lead to a reduction in the nominal amount that bears the higher interest rate 7½%;

• The changed bond terms and conditions will reduce the interest for the first 12 months after the adoption of the proposal to about SEK 10.5 million from about SEK 23.9 million, an interest reduction amounting to SEK 13.4 million. In the following years, the interest payments will be reduced further, partly due to the lower outstanding amount following redemptions and partly due to the resulting reductions in the blended interest rate;

• Extension of the final redemption date to Dec. 17, 2024 from June 17, 2019, with scheduled yearly redemptions;

• The provisioning of additional security to secure the bonds, primarily in form of a pledge in the vineyard Chateau Vignelaure owned by the majority shareholder in Lauritz, Bengt Sundström. The new bond terms will enter into force when the additional securities have been perfected;

•An obligation of Lauritz to pursue divestment of some auction houses, including establishment of partnership agreements with royalty payments to Lauritz. Any cash obtained from divestments will be applied as an extraordinary redemption on the bonds;

• Deletion of the obligation to fulfill the financial covenants, and a waiver of the existing financial covenants for the period until the new terms enters into force.

Lauritz.com operates online auction services through its trading platform based in Soborg, Denmark.

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