Amaya refinancing agreement guards against ‘a certain shareholder’ taking control.
News on 4 Mar 2017
News on 4 Mar 2017
Online gambling group Amaya Inc., issued a press release Friday detailing refinancing agreements with lenders GSO Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Macquarie Capital that will see it save Cdn$15.4 million on interest payments and free up funds…but a section of the release referring to a requirement by the lenders grabbed the attention of observers, who interpreted it as a precautionary move to ensure that former CEO and still major shareholder David Baazov is constrained from taking control of the company at some future point.
The passage that caught everyone’s eye read:
“At the request of certain lenders, the amendment also modifies the change of control provision to remove the ability of a certain current shareholder to directly or indirectly acquire control of Amaya without triggering an event of default and potential acceleration of the repayment of the debt under the credit agreement for the first lien term loans.”
Our readers will recall that Baazov made two unsuccessful attempts last year to gain control of Amaya before stepping down as CEO to fight insider trading charges arising from the Rational Group acquisition that are due for a high court hearing later this year (see previous reports).
See the full Amaya statement here:
