Hogan Lovells, led by London partner, Alex Kay, together with Partos & Noblet, acted as legal counsel to an ad hoc group of noteholders on the restructuring of EUR 200 million senior unsecured bonds issued by Nitrogénművek Zrt., a leading Hungarian fertiliser producer.
Hogan Lovells, led by London partner, Alex Kay, acted as legal counsel to an ad hoc group of noteholders on the restructuring of EUR 200 million senior unsecured bonds issued by Nitrogénművek Zrt., a leading Hungarian fertiliser producer. The London team included counsel Jonathan Morris and senior associate Freddie Doust. Partos & Noblet, the associated office of Hogan Lovells in Budapest advised on the Hungarian law aspects of the transaction on behalf of the noteholders. The Partos & Noblet team was led by partner Sándor Békési with assistance from senior associate Gábor Kószó.
This is a rare example of a Hungarian company successfully implementing a restructuring of international bonds on a fully consensual basis. Under the terms of the restructuring, the company’s existing EUR 200 million senior unsecured bonds due 2025 were exchanged for the issuance of new secured bonds maturing on 30 June 2028 on a par for par basis. The new bonds benefit from a substantive security package and improvements to the bond covenants.
The transaction included a novel offering to bondholders whereby they were able to choose between exchanging their existing notes for definitive notes issued by Nitrogénművek Zrt., or listed and cleared notes issued by a special purpose vehicle which entered into back-to-back financing arrangements with Nitrogénművek Zrt. This split-offering structure was deployed to address Hungarian regulatory requirements.