Codere given 48 hour bankruptcy lifeline

Spanish gambling operator Codere SA has been granted a 48 hour extension to solve its corporate debt restructure with creditors, as the operator looks to avoid entering bankruptcy protection. In a meeting between Codere bondholders and senior facility lenders, Codere had been granted a further 48 hours, to its existing May 10 insolvency deadline.

Codere SA had been seeking new investment and creditors to help restructure its debt of €1.1 billion (£902 million), the operator had first entered crisis talks regarding its operations when it failed to make interest payments on January 15 2014. Prior to the talks Codere had reported seven consecutive quarters losses.

The operator, who are 68.5% owned by the Sampedro family had seen their business suffer as it tried to aggressively expand operations in South America.  Codere had witnessed expensive land based casino failures in Mexico and Argentina, the operator cited unforeseen costs in the market and new gambling taxes which had effected revenue generation from its operations.

International private equity firm Blackstone Group LP , through its credit arm GSO Capital Partners, and hedge fund Canyon Capital LLC are among investors that have bought up Codere debt in recent months.

Bloomberg news reports that about 95 percent of companies that enter insolvency proceedings in Spain, known as concurso under the country’s bankruptcy laws, end up in liquidation.