Wasps’ bid to waive bond covenants goes to second meeting
Wasps Group, which includes the rugby union club, stadium operators Arena Coventry and events company IEC Experience, has delayed its bid to gain permission from bondholders to waive covenants after it revealed a £6.5m loss earlier this month.
The club’s parent company needed permission to be able to lend more money “to allow it to continue to trade as a going concern while the Government’s public health restrictions to control COVID-19 remain in place”.
However, a meeting yesterday (October 29) was adjourned through lack of quorum. A further meeting is set to be held on November 12 to try and push the proposals through.
Stephen Vaughan, chief executive of Wasps Holdings, said: “We would like to thank the Bondholders who did vote in favour of the Proposals at the Initial Meeting, which would have been sufficient to approve the Proposals had the quorum requirement been met.
“As is often the case with retail bonds, given the broad investor base and the quorum requirement for this Initial Meeting, not enough Bondholders have voted on the Proposals ahead of the voting deadline for the Initial Meeting.
“In common with other processes of this nature, the Proposals will now be voted on at the Adjourned Meeting, for which there is no minimum quorum requirement, and we are confident of the Proposals being approved by the Bondholders at the Adjourned Meeting.
“We firmly believe that the Proposals are in the best interests of all of our stakeholders. They include important amendments that reflect the impact of coronavirus on our business and give us the flexibility, if required, to strengthen our balance sheet through additional liquidity, while maintaining bondholders’ security. The Wasps Group is committed to meeting all of its obligations under the Bonds and we welcome the continued support from our Bondholders throughout this time.”
Wasps’ losses in most recent accounts were a £17.1m reversal from the previous year in which it made a profit of £10.7m in 2019 while losses will have continued since the year-end because of the restrictions on attendance at live sport and events.
Group revenues were down 36%, to £22.2m, with all three parts of the business significantly hit.
