Oil Debt Opportunism Rebuked by Billionaire-Owned Aker
ByAker ASA, Norway’s biggest high-yield issuer, criticized bondholders it said risked eroding trust in the market by using lower oil prices as an excuse to demand excessively lucrative terms.
Issuer efforts to relax loan terms as lower oil prices hurt cash flows are being met by unreasonable bondholder demands, according to Chief Executive Officer Oeyvind Eriksen. Though Aker “understands well and respects” the need to reach a compromise, there are limits, he said.
“There are examples — in- and outside of Aker — of difficult negotiations about solutions that should have been easier,” he said in an interview on Friday in his Oslo office. “It’s about what trust a big issuer like Aker can put in the fact that this is a market that acts rationally, both on sunny and rainy days. If that trust ruptures, the bond market will also become less attractive.”…
Oil Debt Opportunism Rebuked by Billionaire-Owned Aker
