Phones 4u’s creditors are pressuring EE and Vodafone to revive supply contracts as part of a last-minute rescue bid.
The bid will involve the creditors swapping what they are owed for equity if the contracts with Vodafone and EE are revived, according to The Daily Telegraph.
In total the creditors hold £430m in senior bonds issued by Phones 4u, which are on the verge of being wiped out if administrator PwC places the retailer into liquidation.
Phones 4u entered administration on Sunday after EE followed Vodafone in revealing it would not renew its contract with the retailer.
Bondholders offer to swap some of what they are owed for equity if supply contracts with Vodafone and EE can be revived.
EE and Vodafone are already preparing to bid for a handful of the retailer’s 560 stores, which employ around 5,000 people.
Louise Verrill, a partner at Brown Rudnick, which is acting for the creditors, told the Telegraph: “We have proposed a restructure of the business that means the capital structure will no longer be an impediment to achieving the commercial outcome which allows the company to continue as a going concern.
“The bondholders would take a significant write-down on their debt which would make the business commercially.”
Phones 4u also has 160 concessions in Dixons Carphone stores and yesterday the latter reached an agreement with the administrator to save the jobs of the 800 staff working in the concessions.
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