Billionaire Andrea Pignataro’s Ion Platform has assured investors it is not planning aggressive tactics that strip value from creditors owed $11bn, amid increasing bond market scrutiny. The financial technology group behind data platforms including Mergermarket and Dealogic said in results shown to creditors that it aimed to repay lenders in full and did not plan the kind of “liability management exercise” executed by some junk debt market peers in recent years.
Investors have started to scrutinize Ion’s capital structure more closely since its bonds plunged early this year on fears AI may hit its software business. They have since partially recovered and prices climbed again on Tuesday after positive third-quarter results. In the third-quarter results shared with credit investors and seen by the FT, Ion said it was “not considering any priming or drop-down financing, non-pro-rata or coercive exchange, uptier or covenant-stripping transaction or any similar LME transaction.”
Junk debt market peers including Patrick Drahi’s Altice International and Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin have in the past year struck deals that shift assets out of the reach of bondholders. The group reported revenues of $643mn for the quarter, up 7 per cent on the same period last year. Net profit for the first nine months of the year grew to $363mn from $137mn a year earlier, while the company’s debt-to-earnings ratio has fallen to 6.15 times from 7.95 times a year earlier.
Ion, whose other financial data companies include Fidessa and Debtwire, grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions financed by cheap debt. On top of the reassurances, Ion told investors it “remains focused on opportunistically repurchasing debt in the open market.” The group has bought about $250mn of its own debt at a discount so far this year.
Source: Financial Times Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing