Un altro precedente interessante che mi era sfuggito:
Thomson dividend move raises doubts on hybrid
Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:18am EDT
By Natalie Harrison
LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - French media group Thomson's (
TMS.PA) decision to scrap its dividend has raised uncertainty about whether the company will pay the coupon on its ravaged 500 million euro ($792 million) hybrid bond.
Thomson, which is under pressure from poor earnings and an uncertain outlook, said on Wednesday it would suspend its dividend payment for 2007.
The news sent its shares more than 3 percent lower and raised the cost of insuring its debt against default, while the hybrid bond plummeted in value.
The bond <FR023062267=> was indicated on Wednesday morning bid at around 26-27 percent of face value, according to Reuters data, down from 42 percent on Tuesday.
If Thomson does not pay a dividend, it has the option to suspend coupon payments on the hybrid bond -- one of the features that makes this instrument a blend of equity and debt.
The company said in a statement, however, that the dividend decision "does not imply non-payment of the next coupon on its 500 million euro perpetual bond." That decision is due in September, the company said, when the coupon payment falls due.
"If they opt to continue paying the coupon on the perp, they are showing an act of good faith to their bond holders and that might serve them well further down the road," said Roger Appleyard, head of European credit research for Royal Bank of Canada.
"Alternatively they could just put the shutters down because it is less clear who actually owns the perps and they will not be as worried about them, preferring to have a better relationship with banks. They could go either way." Five-year credit default swaps on Thomson widened 20 basis points to 635 basis points after the news, a trader said. That means it costs 635,000 euros a year to insure 10 million euros of the company's debt against default.
"SHOCKER"
Hybrid bonds offer a cheaper way for companies to raise funds than issuing straight equity and also help protect credit ratings.
They are also deeply subordinated, very-long dated or perpetual securities that allow borrowers to boost their balance sheet without diluting existing shareholders, while paying investors higher returns than senior bonds.
The Thomson hybrid has performed badly right from the start, losing more than a fifth of its value in the first six months after its launch in September 2005 and was further hammered after Moody's Investors Service cut the hybrid bond to "junk" status in March 2006.
"It's a shocker. It (Thomson) should never have issued a hybrid in the first place." said Appleyard.
After a string of deals from utilities and non-cyclical companies such as Bayer, Vattenfall [VATN.UL] and Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG), Thomson was also the first hybrid borrower truly exposed to cyclical markets.
Appleyard said Thomson got its deal away at a time when "the market was all bulled up and people were after hybrids". Doubts whether Thomson will pay the hybrid coupon, however, do not does not necessarily mean other hybrids face similar risks.
"People were questioning why a technology company was doing a perp. That's why it traded badly from the off, with worries about exposure to technology risks and competition from Asia."
(Additional reporting by Richard Barley and Dominique Vidalon)
Press Releases
Thomson confirms coupon on perpetual bond
9/9/2008
Paris – September 9, 2008 -
Thomson (Euronext Paris : 18453 ; NYSE : TMS) notes that the next coupon on the outstanding €500 million perpetual bond will be paid on 25 September 2008. This payment will total €28.75 million.
Colgo l'occasione per questo bond perpetual di sottolineare che ha in previsione un pagamento di tipo pay in kind (per la precisione, in titoli azionari della banca) per le cedole che debbano essere differite o che siano state differite volontariamente dalla banca (nei casi in cui ciò è consentito dall'Offering Circular).
