Oil company Premier Oil is inviting holders of its guaranteed convertible bonds due 2014 to trade them in for similar bonds due in 2018.
The new bonds will have a conversion price of $7.00 and a coupon (interest rate) of 2.5%. This compares with the existing convertible bonds, which have a conversion price of $6.69 and a coupon of 2.875%.
The exchange will only go ahead if Premier gets enough takers in respect of $100m of the existing bonds. In order to participate in the exchange offer, a holder must validly offer for exchange at least $200,000 in aggregate principal amount of existing bonds.
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The idea behind the exchange is to extend the maturity of the bonds while saving a few bob on the coupon and gaining on the conversion price. Premier had no comment on what the advantages might be to the holders of the existing 2014 bonds.
JH
