Hibu’s rollercoaster continues as major shareholder cuts stake
TROUBLED Yellow Pages publisher Hibu yesterday saw its share price surge back as much as 50 per cent from Tuesday’s losses as it officially unveiled a committee of creditors tasked with restructuring the ownership of the firm.
The firm confirmed reports that Alcentra, GE Corporate Finance Bank, Gruss Asset Management, Blackstone’s GSO Capital, QP SFM Capital and the Royal Bank of Scotland had been appointed to form a co-ordinating committee of lenders to represent the firm’s creditor base.
Shares in the FTSE 250 listed company bounced back from Tuesday’s low of 0.37p to hit 0.61p yesterday.
However, this trails the recent high of 1.24p price on Friday afternoon following news the firm had won a reprieve from lenders to stop it breaching its debt limits.
In a sign of possible shareholder nervousness over a mooted debt for equity restructure deal, the firm’s biggest shareholders, asset manager Invesco, on Tuesday reduced its holdings in the company from 24 per cent to 17 per cent.
Hibu, which changed its name from Yell earlier this year, has about £2.2bn of debt, dwarfing its current market capitalisation of just £28m.