PUB13 Sep 2012 13:23
Strangely enough they are worse than stuck. Punch are at this moment trying to negotiate a write down of a large chunk of their debt held by bondholders. Their hand is not as strong as they think. The Bondholders could be financially better off by forcing Punch into administration. Many of Punch’s tenants get discretionary discounts on their beer sales amounting to many thousands of pounds per year. These discounts are not written into the leases the tenants have signed. An administrator I am sure, would have to put the interests of the shareholders and bondholders first and claw back these discounts, which in some cases are as high as £160 per barrel.