Transener Tops 50% in Bond Exchange

Argentine utility Transener saw a 56.6% participation rate in its offer to exchange or repurchase its outstanding 2016 bonds. In an operation that expired Tuesday, holders representing $47.4m of the bonds agreed to exchange the exiting debt for new 2021 notes, and holders of another $21.8m swapped their bonds for cash. Investors were allowed to exchange outstanding bonds for the new 2021s par for par, and receive an extra $30 for each $1,000 if tenders were submitted by the early bird date of July 25. Alternatively, they could have elected to receive $910 cash for each $1,000 in principal, plus another $90 in early bird premiums. To finance the transaction, Transener last month sold $53.1m in new 9.75% 2021s at 95.405 to yield 10.5%, while also issuing another $46.9m to be used in the exchange. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank managed the process.