George Soros becomes a major shareholder of Codere after debt restructuring

After the Spanish court approved the debt restructuring of Codere Group, several bondholders have capitalized their debt in shares of the company, among them, The Soros Fund, the family office of U.S. businessman George Soros and his family

According to the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial, within the framework of Codere's debt restructuring, "The Soros Fund has acquired a 3.03% stake in the online betting and gaming company."

Furthermore, other investment funds that have capitalized debt - such as Invesco, Jupiter, Palmestone, or BlackRock - have reinforced their position in the shareholding or, like Soros, have entered as new shareholders.

It should be noted that, at the end of July, the Madrid court validated the agreement that will enable the Codere Group to carry out the historic restructuring of EUR 1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) agreed with creditors. As a result of this recapitalization, corporate debt will be reduced to EUR 128 million (more than $137 million).

This restructuring allowed a historic 100% write-off in a junior bond issue, and a debt-to-equity capitalization in another senior issue, which turned The Soros Fund into a new player in the gambling sector in Spain and Latin America.

In addition, after this process, the founders of the company, the Martínez Sampedro family, 'who tried to boycott the restructuring without success', according to legal sources, could challenge it after the judge's approval, which came at the end of July.

Meanwhile, after this process, the founders of the company, the Martínez Sampedros, "who tried to boycott the restructuring without success," according to legal sources, were removed from the group of shareholders but could challenge this after the judge's approval, which came at the end of July.

The above-mentioned Spanish media detailed that "there are still pending procedures related to authorizations related to competition so that Codere can carry out a bond issue and formalize the plan", and that the agreement "will allow the company to reduce its debt to 0.9 times EBITDA."