Altice France Holding document adds weight to CDS trigger claims
- Dan Alderson
A document has come to light that could serve as an “internal” source for a trigger on CDS contracts referencing Altice France Holding SA, the Luxembourg-based holding company that owns Altice France. 9fin provides an image of the document — a “notice” Altice circulated to bondholders on 14 May — below.
Atice France Holding SA has become the subject of a failure-to-pay credit event attempt lodged at the EMEA Credit Derivatives Committee. It is so far unclear if evidence submitted to the DC in support of the “general interest question” will suffice to meet the DC's criteria on this category of credit event.
But on Thursday (19 June), independent CDS lawyer Carlos Pardo was able to obtain from the issuer, at the request of the listing agent, a copy of a communication Altice circulated on 14 May — which he has shared with 9fin.
Unlike the February press release mentioned in the credit event question, this document confirms Altice expressly stated it had ceased paying coupons on its 8% 15 May 2027 bonds after 31 March. The timing of the document means investors would have received it just before the 15 May coupon payment came due. And it confirms the terms of the notes had already been modified in connection with not paying the interest.