Tiscali is planning to raise capital of €190 million as a first step in meeting the terms it has agreed with debtors to restructure its debt burden of €630 million. This is more than three times the Group’s EBITDA earnings.
The proposals, if passed by shareholders next month, would see a large portion of the debt removed from the release and the sale of its UK assets to Carphone Warehouse for £236 million, agreed three weeks ago, the Financial Times reports.
Besides the sale of Tiscali UK, Tiscali also completed the sale of TiNet, an IP services provider, to BS Private Equity for €47 million.
Although the board has an initial target of €190 million, it said it might apply to the markets for a further €46.5 million, dependent on the level of subscription to the first one. It also gave itself a three-year deadline to raise a third tranche of capital of €25 million if it needed to pay down debt, the report added.
The board is to put the proposals to shareholders at the end of June, the FT said.
Renato Soru, Tiscali’s wealthy founder and largest shareholder with a 20% stake, has returned to the group, as head of Italian operations.
