• On 31 October 2019, Pioneer Credit Ltd (Pioneer) released an ASX announcement providing an update on current ongoing discussions with interested parties. At the same time, Pioneer requested that the current share trading suspension be extended until 2 December 2019.
• As part of this ASX release, Pioneer indicated that it had been in discussions with a number of interested parties regarding a potential change of control transaction. Following receipt of a number of non-binding indicative proposals, Pioneer has selected four interested parties (across private equity and trade) which are now in the process of completing due diligence on the Company, ahead of submission of final binding offers. At this stage, Pioneer expects that these binding offers will be submitted during November, and a preferred party will be selected by the end of November.
• Separately, Pioneer has indicated that it is continuing discussions with certain other parties for the provision of funding which we believe would be used to replace the existing senior debt facilities that are currently subject to a standstill agreement as a result of previously disclosed breaches.
• In our view, the events that are currently unfolding are in line with our prior expectations and, if a binding offer is accepted by the board, a change of control transaction could be executed in early 2020. We note that, as a listed entity, any proposed acquisition would require approval by existing shareholders. At the point the change of control transaction is executed, we would expect that Noteholders would have an ability to request that their Notes be redeemed at their face value, since we are assuming that an interested party would acquire control of Pioneer, rather than simply take a minority stake in the business.
We will continue to provide updates as additional information becomes available.