Great to see the full article, thanks!
It’s not a tax dodge. Arcmont is a well known lending fund. They do not like to own businesses, they like to lend to them. They will only take the keys if other avenues have already been explored. Equally, HAL (no idea who they are) would not want to lose the business if they could keep hold of it. To get to this stage means negotiations have broken down and HAL is unwilling to put in new money.
Most likely there is a liquidity issue as the covenant would be easy to game (by adjusting EBITDA within the limits allowed) and HAL would probably have cured any breach. With product prices increasing so much, the company might be suffering a working capital squeeze. Plus they have a €300m loan, which would have been floating rate and rates have increased massively since 2021, to service.
Applying to the German courts for the debt to equity swap could also be a negotiating tactic from Arcmont, to force HAL to put in some cash. Time will tell!
