Bulgaria’s bus line operator Etap Adress has extended its bond by six months until November 2011 after the proposal got the thumbs-up by bondholders, the company said in a filing to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The bond will be repaid in three tranches, including principals of BGN 1.25 million and interest. The first payment is scheduled for August 2010, with the total amount of BGN 4 million due to be repaid by November 2011. Bondholders also raised the bond interest rate from 7.325% to 9% a year. They also banned Etap from purchases of companies or stocks and from implementing new investment projects without securing their approval. Etap spent the BGN 5 million bond on a mineral water factory and a spa complex in Barzia. Another portion went into the construction of an office building in downtown Sofia. Etap is the latest in a string of Bulgarian companies to encounter problems in repaying a bond issue in the wave of the economic downturn that sapped liquidity. So far bond restructuring has been performed by Elana Holding, steel wheels and rims manufacturer Balkancar Zarya, travel company Alma Tour and fruit juice maker Florina Bulgaria, to name but a few.
Source: Dnevnik (21.05.2010)