Noteholder meeting for Cell C compromise offer postponed to July 5

A two-week delay in the noteholder vote to approve an extraordinary resolution on a compromise offer will have no impact on the timing of the overall Cell C recapitalisation transaction, which is expected to proceed to final close in July 2022, JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms assured shareholders on Tuesday.

On May 25, Blue Label announced a bond process to obtain approval for the compromise offer that has been made to Cell C’s secured lenders, who formerly held publicly listed bonds or notes.

The bond holders were scheduled to legally indicate their consent to the offer of 20c for every R1 of debt by means of a vote during a planned meeting of noteholders on June 20, during which a majority of at least 75% of the vote in favour of the offer needed to be secured for it to be implemented

The noteholder meeting will now take place on July 5, after being adjourned following a large noteholder tendering the necessary instructions after the specified voting deadline of June 16, Blue Label said in the update to shareholders.

A reduced quorum requirement of one or more persons present and holding or representing at least 25% in principal amount of the notes now applies to the adjourned meeting, Blue Label commented.

“A majority of noteholders have already presented their instructions for the noteholder meeting. These instructions are expected to remain in place until the new noteholder meeting and are sufficient to achieve the reduced quorum requirements and, as at today’s date, correspond to 92.18% support in favour of the compromise offer,” the company said.

“We believe that the requisite quorum and majority vote in favour will be achieved, making this another critical milestone in Cell C’s financial restructuring and recapitalisation,” Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson said in a statement following the update.