Blue Star Group has announced that it will delist its near worthless bonds from the NZDX market as it looks to avoid public notification of its annual results.
Effectively for Blue Star, the delisting, at the end of trading on Aug. 28, will remove the NZX reporting requirement to release its results for the year ended June 30. Phillip Bower, managing director of Blue Star, says, “The delisting follows an application by Blue Star, which sought to protect the integrity of its current sale process by deferring the preliminary announcement of its consolidated 30 June results and annual report.”
The company said that de-listing the bonds has no adverse effect on its operating businesses and that, with the listed bonds now trading effectively at a nominal value, infrequently and on very low volumes, its Board now considers it unlikely that any value will attach to the bonds, last at a price of 0.5 cents per $1 face amount on the NZDX. In its letter, Blue Star stated, “After August 28, the bonds may still be traded privately and Blue Star remains under the regulatory oversight of Perpetual Trust Limited, the Trustee for the bonds, the FMA and the Registrar of Companies.”
In a meeting last yeaar, Blue Star convinced bond holders to roll over $105 million of the NZDX-listed bonds, extending the term and providing more financial covenant headroom. It stated, that senior lenders had agreed to maintain their support during the sales process and last month it appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on a sale after receiving approaches.
Recently, Blue Star offloaded Rapid Labels to former director John Sturgess's Tiri Group. Sturgess oversaw the sale of Blue Star to Champ private equity five years ago for $385m, from fellow Kiwi fund, Pacific Equity Partners.
