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Welcome to The Brink. I'm Dipika Lalwani, a reporter in Singapore, where I followed India's SP Group, which is planning its debut dollar bond sale after borrowing locally at yields near 20%. We also have news on Air Baltic, ION Group and a whiskey maker backed by Jay-Z. Follow this link to subscribe. Send us feedback and tips at debtnews@bloomberg.net.
Dollar Debut
India's Shapoorji Pallonji Group, one of the country's largest private credit borrowers, is racing against time to refinance a significant portion of its debt due at the end of April. As the deadline approaches, the conglomerate is considering making a debut on the dollar bond market.
The company faces a maturity of $2.5 billion in rupee-denominated debt at its Goswami Infratech unit, offered at a yield of 18.75%. While liquidity in India's domestic credit market is ample and existing creditors are willing to roll over the debt, that support comes at a price.
Borrowing costs have risen globally, with credit spreads widening amid the Iran War. The conflict has sent the price of oil soaring, sparked inflation concerns and made refinancing more expensive, even for companies whose operations aren't directly impacted by it.
The real estate and construction conglomerate is no stranger to costly borrowing. Last year, it raised the country's largest-ever private credit deal, securing $3.4 billion at a steep yield of 19.75% -- that transaction continues to shape investor expectations around its credit profile.
Against this backdrop, SP Group has initiated discussions with investors about potentially issuing dollar bonds while selling locally denominated debt at the same time. Some of Goswami's largest creditors include Cerberus Capital Management, Varde Partners, Davidson Kempner Capital Management and Deutsche Bank.
The company's refinancing strategy is driven by its cost of capital rather than a lack of liquidity. A dual-market approach could allow SP Group to measure investor appetite across geographies and potentially negotiate better terms with its existing creditors, who might otherwise demand higher yields for a rollover.
Plus, a successful debut in the US could establish a new pricing benchmark for the group and give it greater flexibility in future capital raises.
Founded more than 160 years ago, SP Group operates across engineering and construction, real estate, infrastructure, energy and industrial projects. The group is controlled by the Mistry family and is best known for building landmarks such as India's central bank and the Al Alam palace for the Sultan of Oman.
The group has used its roughly 18% stake in Tata Sons -- one of India's most valuable unlisted companies -- as collateral in its borrowing. The holding, built by the Mistry family between 1965 and 1995, has long underpinned its financing strategy. However, it has also been a source of ongoing friction following a high-profile boardroom dispute with the Tata Group, which is overseen by Tata Sons.
Cashing in a portion of that stake could significantly ease the group's debt burden and reduce financing costs. However, the unresolved dispute has made such a move difficult, leaving refinancing and liability management as the primary tools available in the near term.
High Alert
* Echostar has reached a restructuring agreement with a majority of creditors in its Dish DBS unit, which would potentially pave the way to revive an M&A deal with DirecTV.
* Billionaire Wes Edens has reached a deal with creditors to restructure New Fortress Energy, in a transaction that will cut the company's debt by 90%.
* Officials overseeing the wind-down of Market Financial Solutions have obtained a worldwide asset-freezing order against owner Paresh Raja, while the company faces an investigation by the UK financial regulator.
* The $1.8 trillion private credit industry may need years to work through an "intense yet warranted reset" that has caused a wave of redemptions from some of the market's biggest funds, according to Sixth Street Partners.
* Unwilling to cede control over New World Development, Hong Kong's billionaire Cheng family is now betting on the revival of the city's property market and mulling options like a public share sale to meet the embattled developer's debt obligations.
Notes From the Brink
Uncle Nearest, the Tennessee whiskey maker embroiled in a fight with its largest lender for control of the company, was dealt a setback Thursday after a judge blocked its attempt to seek bankruptcy protection, Randi Love and Jonathan Randles report.
The judge said a court-appointed receiver, installed last year at lender Farm Credit Mid-America PCA's request, had stripped founder Fawn Weaver of the authority to place the company into Chapter 11. Farm Credit is owed at least $108 million, according to court papers.
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The company's troubles are unfolding as distillers across the US contend with weaker demand, higher costs and a growing number of bankruptcies. Named after Nathan "Nearest" Green -- the formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel to distill whiskey -- Uncle Nearest had sought bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. The Black-owned company that helped establish Green's place in American history has drawn backing from figures including Jay-Z.
A future filing remains possible, but the receiver, Phillip Young Jr., has been focused on stabilizing Uncle Nearest's operations, the receiver's attorney, Justin Campbell of Thompson Burton PLLC, said during a hearing.
The Latest on... ION Group
Italian billionaire Andrea Pignataro's fintech conglomerate has snapped up its own bonds at discount as short sellers pile on bets against its debt amid concerns about the software sector, Reshmi Basu, Luca Casiraghi and Giulia Morpurgo report.
ION Group has been ramping up purchases of the beaten down debt over the past two months, according to people with familiar with the matter. The group initially began picking up bonds at a discount in late 2025, the people said.
A note from ION Platform -- one of the company's operating units -- stood at around 93 cents on the euro on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, a marked recovery from a record low of 88 cents on Feb. 16. The bond, due in 2029, had been as high as 103 cents at the end of January, the data show.
About 18% of ION Platform's 2029 bond is on loan to short sellers, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence as of March 9, a sign that a significant portion of the market is actively betting that the debt will drop further in value.
Buybacks allow ION to retire debt below par while also supporting secondary market prices. The company has done this before, purchasing several hundred million euros of its own notes during the Covid-19 pandemic, when some of its bonds dropped to 60 cents.
By the Numbers
Air Baltic will soon present a business plan to the Latvian government as the struggling airline seeks support to cope with surging fuel prices, Edward Clark reports.
The firm is working on a strategy to weather higher oil prices as the war in the Middle East drives costs up and is also developing a longer-term plan to ensure the carrier's viability, Latvia's Transport Minister Atis Svinka said Friday in a post on X.
The price of the €380 million ($436 million) notes due in 2029 dropped around 16 cents on Thursday, their largest daily decline since being issued in 2024. They traded at around 67 cents on the euro at the time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Riga-based firm was already running low on cash before the cost of jet fuel more than doubled as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. Fund managers are now drawing attention to the airline's exposure to soaring prices as it hedged only 10% of its consumption.
Kasparas Subacius, head of fixed income at Artea Asset Management, said this contrasts with the airline's key competitors, including Ryanair Holdings, EasyJet and Wizz Air Holdings, which have hedged 60% to 80% of fuel costs.
Since the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran almost three weeks ago, the price of the bond has fallen by nearly 30 cents. The cost of jet fuel in Europe has risen to $1,735 from around $830 per metric ton over the same period.
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