EP 02: LMEs in Europe, Casino’s Post-Restructuring Struggles, and the Sofa Heard Round the Village
Credit Lens: Europe & BeyondShow Notes
In Episode 2 of Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond, hosts Phoebe Appenteng and Chris Haffenden tackle the big credit themes shaping European markets right now. They start with Cerba and the rising fear of LMEs in Europe, questioning whether Altice-style tactics are becoming the new normal. Then it’s on to French retail, where Casino’s failed turnaround has investors wondering if ELO might be next. The conversation zooms out to IPO delays, buyout debt flowing into private credit, and why execution risk is changing how deals get done. Finally, it’s time for Afternoon Tea. From Elon tweets moving Dogecoin to a British roadside sofa turned art exhibit, the show ends with weird, wonderful headlines and some questionable biscuit science. Insightful, sharp, and just the right amount of strange.
More from Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond
Air Baltic has landed in a New York courtroom, and HelloFresh has watched a brand new bond shed 13 points in two months. Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon work through both in the latest Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond.
Aston Martin just moved what looks like most of its intellectual property into a chain of Cayman Islands subsidiaries, and bondholders are still trying to figure out how it was allowed. Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon take it on in the latest Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond, joined by Bart Capeci, Senior Covenants Analyst at Octus, and Aditya Khanna, Head of EMEA Legal Research at Octus.
Europe's rivers are running low, and the credit implications are running deeper than the earnings calls suggest. Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon take it on in the latest Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond, joined by Wayne Jambawo, Financial Analyst at Octus.
A Spanish auto supplier quietly filed for insolvency without telling its bondholders. A UK utility is dangling a golden share at the government to fend off nationalization. Two of the messier situations in European credit right now, worked through in one episode. Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon are joined by Rob Schach, managing editor, EMEA at Octus, to unpack Grupo Antolin's restructuring, from the banks-first deal that offered bondholders a 32.5% haircut (04:10) to the covert Spanish filing that bondholders only discovered through a Chapter 15 petition in the US (05:31). Rob walks through the Rule in Gibbs claim, the winding-up petitions, and where he thinks the leverage actually sits (06:16).
Aston Martin has survived seven bankruptcy proceedings in a century, and the eighth chapter is now being written in a bondholder co-op agreement. Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon are joined by Rafi Rees, Credit Analyst at Octus, to work through the iconic British carmaker's latest brush with distress.