5 May 2021 07:12
5 May 2021
Atlas Mara Limited's Update on Strategic Review and Restructuring Discussions
Key Highlights:
· Atlas Mara announces progress in strategic review with regulatory approval of two previously announced transactions.
· Extension of Standstill Agreement agreed with creditors to 17 May 2021 in order to provide additional time to complete binding legal agreement relating to restructuring discussions.
Atlas Mara Limited ("Atlas Mara" or the "Company" and including its subsidiaries, the "Group"), the sub-Saharan African financial services group, hereby provides updates on the strategic review and its discussions with bilateral lenders and certain principal holders of the Group's convertible bonds due 31 December 2020.
The Company remains focused on executing on its strategic review to maximize value for its stakeholders. To date, the Company has announced assets sales in Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and more recently in Botswana. Having secured regulatory approval for the transactions in Mozambique and Botswana, the Company is now working towards completion of these previously announced transactions. Atlas Mara has also received several indications of interest regarding other assets and continues to assess these options with the aim of realizing value for the best interests of all its stakeholders. The Company will provide any updates to the market in due course.
On 1 April 2021, the Company announced: (i) that it had reached in principle agreement with the majority of its creditors on the key commercial terms for its debt restructuring and (ii) that all of the creditors of the Company and its subsidiary, ABC Holdings Limited ("ABCH"), who entered into the Standstill Agreement announced on 29 December 2020 had agreed to extend the Standstill Agreement until 30 April 2021.
Since that announcement, the Company has substantially agreed the framework terms of the legally binding agreement that will implement the restructuring transaction with the creditors of the Company who have entered into the Standstill Agreement. In parallel, ABCH has also made progress with a majority of its creditors (by principal amount owed) towards agreeing the key commercial terms for the debt restructuring. In recognition of the progress made so far, the creditors of the Company and ABCH who have entered into the Standstill Agreement have agreed to a further extension of the Standstill Agreement until 17 May 2021 to enable parties to finalize the restructuring documentation.
In parallel, the Company continues to engage with the minority creditors that have not signed up to the Standstill Agreement or agreed to the commercial terms of the restructuring in order to encourage them to do so. As noted in previous announcements, TLG and Norsad have filed legal applications against the Company and ABCH respectively. With the support of its creditors, the Company and ABCH continue to robustly contest these applications for the benefit of their creditors as a whole and other stakeholders. In addition, the Company and ABCH consider that the significant levels of support given to them by the vast majority of the Group's creditors in progressing the restructuring discussions and granting a further extension of the Standstill Agreement will support the Company and ABCH in their efforts to contest these actions.
These matters relate to the holding companies only and exclude the Group's operating companies.
Contact Details:
Investors
Kojo Dufu, +1 212 883 4330
Media
Apella Advisors, +44(0) 7818 036 579
Anthony Silverman
About Atlas Mara
Atlas Mara Limited (LON: ATMA) is listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.atlasmara.com.