Whitcoulls owner extends debt, working capital facilities

Tuesday Jun 09, 2009 By Adam Bennett writing in the New Zealand Herald

Private-equity-owned book retailer REDgroup, which in turn owns the Whitcoulls and Borders chains, has rejigged its senior debt facilities as the restructuring of its operations continues.
In an announcement to the NZDX debt market, where its bonds are trading at a steep discount to face value, the company said it had extended its current senior debt and working capital facilities with Bank of Scotland International and Germany's WestLB AG for another year until December 31, 2010.

The company's NZDX-listed bonds - which mature on December 15, 2010 - yesterday changed hands at a yield of 27.9 per cent. A spokeswoman for the company, which is owned by private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), yesterday said turnover in the bonds, largely held by retail investors, was low and the small amount changing hands was affecting the price "fairly significantly".

Read the full piece at NZH online.

Footnote:

There was confusion this morning when the Herald carried this story with the headline:

Owner of Dymocks extends debt, working capital facilities.

They have since corrected the story on their website, which is carried above.