SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Embattled Spanish listed gambling operator Codere SA, has been granted an extension to negotiate its €1.1 billion debt (£935 million). Codere pleaded to Spanish government courts that the operator needed more time in order to restructure its debt bonds in order to avoid creditor insolvency.
Codere SA have been granted a ten day extension to prove its debt strategy by its bondholders. The Madrid based operator will have till May 11 to reach an agreement after seeking preliminary creditor protection on January 2 2014
Founded and managed by the Martinez Sampedro family, Codere SA has posted eight consecutive quarters of losses, the operator claims that earnings had been hurt by recession and higher gaming taxes imposed on European markets. Codere SA had further suffered due to costly expansion of group casinos in the South American markets – Mexico and Argentina
Bondholders represented by Houlihan Lokey last month rejected Codere’s latest restructuring proposal, which included a 5 1/2-year moratorium on bond interest payments and no equity stake for creditors.
The company had previously turned down a bondholder plan that included cancelling 365 million euros of the group’s 1 billion euros of bonds in dollars and euros, and injecting as much as 400 million euros of new money. The proposal would have seen creditors receiving 96.8 percent of the company’s equity.
