OPAP buyer looks set to pull off bond despite risks
Emma Delta looks set to pull off a bond despite using a risky margin loan structure dependent entirely on dividend upstreaming.
The issuer set official price talk and confirmed timing on the transaction backing its OPAP acquisition early on Monday, having begun the marketing process for the trade last Tuesday.
Buyers for the paper are waiting in the wings despite the fact that Emma Delta will be unable to control the dividend stream if it fails to seize control of OPAP’s board.
The 400-million-euro unrated paper is split into 250-million-euro first-lien and 150-million-euro second-lien senior secured four-year notes, and will finance the Czech-Greek fund’s acquisition of a 33 percent stake in Greek lottery firm OPAP.
The fund is issuing the notes through its Cyprus-based subsidiary Emma Delta Finance.
OPAP is quasi-monopolistic, holding more than an 80 percent share of Greece’s regulated gaming sector in terms of revenue last year.
[IFR]
