Gol announced the restructuring of its debt with debt securities issued abroad, after closing an agreement with the shareholders of Abra Group, a holding company that will aggregate shares of Gol and Colombian Avianca, and a group of creditors holding bonds, as anticipated by Broadcast (Grupo Estado’s real-time news system) in early December.
The restructuring foresees the injection of just over US$ 400 million and the exchange of bonds.
The bond exchange option involves papers of all maturities that the company currently has circulating in the market – the 2024, 2025, 2026 and perpetual bonds – for new bonds that will be issued by Abra, with maturity in 2028.
Part of such bonds will be converted into shares, that is, creditors will be able to become shareholders of the company.
Shareholders holding preferred shares of Gol will have preemptive rights in the subscription of convertible bonds.
It will also be allowed for new non-convertible bonds to be exchanged for convertible ones.
According to the company’s website, these bonds represent a total amount of US$ 1.925 billion, but not necessarily all bonds will be converted into new securities.
According to a statement released by the company, Abra has committed to investing in Gol by issuing senior and guaranteed bonds maturing in 2028 (Gol SSNs) and others that will be senior and convertible into shares (Gol ESSNs).
The issuance of the two categories of 2028 bonds will be made privately, that is, between the parties, and guaranteed by intellectual property rights and by the Smiles brand, Gol’s loyalty program, valued at US$ 3.7 billion; and for sharing guarantees in relation to Gol’s intellectual property rights, brand and spare parts, which were valued at US$ 1.5 billion.
Creditors represented by an Ad-Hoc group signed a support agreement to enable Abra’s investment in Gol.
Abra will issue a minimum of US$1 billion in non-convertible bonds (Gol SSNs) due in 2028 and has committed to investing US$400 million in the company to, among other purposes, modernize its fleet and manage obligations.
Another part of the resources will be directed towards the cancellation of “at least” US$ 680 million in bonds that are in circulation and must be delivered by the creditors.
This is the amount that the creditors have agreed to deliver to Abra, at specific prices and with a premium for early disposal and provision of new resources.
The document released by the company also says that certain shareholders of Abras agreed to invest approximately US$ 175 million in cash in Gol and the Ad-Hoc Group of creditors to contribute US$ 243 million in Abra to support the transaction.
Upon closing of the transaction, Abra will be Gol’s largest secured debt creditor.
Source: CNN Brasil
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