LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Indebted Premier Oil won
permission from a court on Thursday to have its creditors vote
on planned acquisitions of North Sea assets for around $800
million under a scheme that would allow it to delay debt
repayments and issue new shares.
Premier Oil said in a statement that it will hold a creditor
meeting to vote on the scheme on Feb. 12, with a hearing to
sanction the action decided on in the vote expected to take
place in March.
Hedge fund ARCM, which holds around 15% of Premier's debt
and has had a growing short position in its shares since 2017 -
currently around 17% of its stock, some four times higher than
the average for London-listed firms - rejected the plans.
But an ARCM request for an adjournment of the creditor vote
was not successful on Thursday.
Premier needs investors representing at least 75% of its
outstanding debt of around $2 billion to agree to its plans
under an arrangement reached with its creditors in a debt
restructuring in 2017.
The March meeting can give formal permission to proceed with
the acquisition plans.
Of the creditors subject to the schemes, 86% of Super Senior
Commitments and 75% of Senior Commitments have agreed to vote in
their favour at the creditor meetings, Premier said, referring
to different classes of bondholders.
A spokesman added that Premier had the creditors' promise of
support in writing.
"The agreement to proceed with the scheme of arrangement is
an important step in securing a strong platform for Premier
Oil's future success," a spokeswoman for the Ad Hoc Creditors, a
creditor group supporting Premier's plans, said.
"Any frustrating actions by ARCM would be designed to cause
maximum disruption and uncertainty in order to fuel the hedge
fund's only recently disclosed material short position in the
company."
ARCM had no immediate comment. An investor with a short
position makes a profit on a stock when its price declines.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Jan Harvey)
