(pressebox) Zug, 22.04.2009, .
- Majority shareholders take over 99,1 % of the convertible bond of 75m?
- BIOPETROL agrees with the majority shareholders a strengthening of capital and liquidity
- Financial restructuring extended by a package of measures relating to staffing, organisation and optimisation of contract conditions.
On the 16th February this year BIOPETROL reported the necessity for financial restructuring aimed at ensuring the continuation of BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG. Since then many meeting have been held with Bond-Holders, Banks, potential investors and business partners to discuss their possible contributions to securing and continuation of the business of the BIOPETROL Group.
The original goal of the company, to bring the bond-holders to agree to an early conversion of the bonds to shares, could not be reached. Right up to the last minute there remained too large a gap between the demands of the bond-holders and the financial means of BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG. Given this situation the majority share-holders agreed to purchase the bonds from the existing bond holders. To date 99.1% of the 75m? bond value has been transferred to the majority shareholders.
The majority shareholders, now as major Bond-Holder, BIOPETROL FINANCE B.V. and BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG have agreed the following changes to the bond conditions for the bonds held by the majority shareholders:
1. Reduction in the bond payable for BIOPETROL Finance B.V. through the early conversion of part of the bond into shares from the approved capital of the company and a waiver of conversion rights for the remainder of the bonds held. This re-structuring of the relations of the bond holdings to the majority shareholdings has the effect of strengthening the capital situation of BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG.
2. Extending the term of the bond by 2 years until 21st February 2014. This is better in line with the expected long term cash flows of the company.
3. Waiver of interest and compensation from previous interest periods.
4. Reduction of the bond interest coupon. This together with the reduced volume of bonds significantly reduces the interest burden for the company.
5. Provide BIOPOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG with financing to market conditions. This removes the need for the current bank financing facility and increases the financial flexibility of the company via the agreement of more appropriate covenants and security.
6. Securing the rights arising from the bonds held by the new bondholder (the majority shareholders) through pledges on the Biodiesel plant in Rotterdam and stakes in BIOPETROL ROTTERDAM B.V.
The restructuring plan for the BIOPETROL Group also includes a package of further measures which together strengthen the financial position of the company, improve its profitability and creates the basis for the successful continuation of the BIOPETROL group in times of political and economic uncertainty in Europe but especially in the German Biodiesel market. These measures include short-time working and reduction in staff numbers, rental of not currently needed tank storage, optimization of the use of production capacity, agreeing changes to contracts and a move to half-yearly instead of quarterly financial reporting.
The Management and the Board of BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG are convinced, that these agreements and measures mean the company can be steered through the difficult times ahead. The participation and engagement of the majority shareholders acts to stabilise the Group in the market and gives customers and suppliers more assurance for doing business long-term with BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG.Über BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG
With its German, Dutch and Swiss subsidiaries, BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG, which has its head office in Zug (Switzerland), produces and sells biodiesel and pharmaceutical-grade glycerine of the highest quality. Among our customers are the oil industry and oil traders, large-scale fleet operators, public short-distance transport, as well as the agricultural and construction industries. The pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries are in addition supplied with bioglycerine of pharmaceutical quality.
At the present date, BIOPETROL INDUSTRIES AG has annual productive capacities in Schwarzheide and Rostock of around 350,000 tonnes of biodiesel and 30,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical-grade glycerine. In Rotterdam, BIOPETROL is building an installation with an annual productive capacity of 400,000 tonnes of biodiesel and 60,000 tonnes of bioglycerine. Thus the annual capacity will then be more than doubled to a total of 750,000 tonnes of biodiesel. Further expansion of capacity in Rotterdam is planned. We are working actively on extending our product range, based on the coproduct bioglycerine.
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