Ardagh’s looming restructuring is adding fuel to a busy European market for debt that doesn’t yet exist, as hedge funds make bumper paper profits selling hypothetical bonds at large premiums.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that would be issued after a proposed restructuring at the Luxembourg-based maker of glass and metal drinks containers has changed hands in recent months at prices as high as 110 cents on the dollar, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trading in Ardagh debt on a “when issued” basis comes after months in which new debt from Altice France, the European arm of Patrick Drahi’s heavily indebted telecoms empire, was sold to investors before it was issued upon completion of the restructuring.