Holders of almost USD 900 million worth of Eurobonds issued by the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) have rejected the company's proposal to amend the bonds’ terms.
Rail Capital Markets plc, which issued the Eurobonds on behalf of Ukrzaliznytsia, announced this in a statement on the Euronext stock exchange, the CFTS portal reports.
At the quorate meetings of the bondholders held on 31 December 2024, the necessary consents for the proposal to amend the terms of the bonds were not obtained. This was the company's second proposal to amend the terms of the bonds since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrzaliznytsia proposed to amend the terms of a 2026 Eurobond issued for USD 594.9 million with a coupon of 8.25% per annum and a 2028 Eurobond issued for USD 300 million with a coupon of 7.875% per annum.
As previously reported, on December 16, 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia asked bondholders to capitalize approximately USD 160 million and defer future coupon payments for another 12 months (the second support period) with the option to capitalize them to enable the company to preserve liquidity in the difficult financial conditions created by the Russian military aggression.
As the CFTS portal also reported earlier, the international rating agency Standard & Poor's recently downgraded Ukrzaliznytsia's long-term issuer credit rating from "CCC+" to "CC" (negative Outlook) because of the company's proposal to defer payments on two Eurobond issues for one year from January this year.
