Carlyle Group, Varde tip fresh equity into Bis Industries
Bis Industries, the troubled mine-site trucking company, has staved off a showdown with its lenders by convincing major shareholders The Carlyle Group and Varde Partners to tip in fresh equity.
Bis Industries’ funders have endorsed the leadership team and new strategy.
Street Talk understands the pair have injected $32.8 million into Bis. Sources said the new funds mean the Perth-headquartered group is stabilised and focused on growth, opportunity and profitability, adding the funders have endorsed the leadership team and new strategy.
“Our future is very bright. We’re writing a new script for Bis; one that is Better Every Day,” Bis chief executive Simon Atkinson wrote in a letter to staff on Wednesday.
The injection comes a year after Carlyle and Varde tipped $130 million into Bis to help the company pull off a dramatic debt refinancing and three-year financial lifeline. Term sheets obtained by Street Talk in August showed Bis wanted to defer interest payments that were due in late July, with lenders calling in KordaMentha and Clayton Utz for advice.
Carlyle and Varde would have to advance fresh funds – $32.8 million – to the company as a condition for the change.
Sources said the payments have now been deferred, although to exactly when is unclear. Carlyle and Varde are being advised by Gilbert+Tobin, while Bis has engaged FTI Consulting and Herbert Smith Freehills.
It’s not the first bump in the road this year for Bis. In April, haulage contracts awarded to the company, which has been controlled by Carlyle and Varde since KKR relinquished control in a debt-for-equity swap in 2017, were prematurely cancelled in the otherwise booming Hunter Valley coalfields.
Bis fell to a net loss of $20.5 million in the 12 months to
Read more on afr.com
