Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Karma Is A Bitch

Porsche, which last year thought its "hedge fund" division was smarter than all the actual hedge funds in the world and with the implicit complicity of the BaFin created the Volkswagen squeeze monster, might very soon be at the mercy of the same hedge funds it nearly guillotined.

As Zero Hedge reported, the failed merger between it and Volkswagen (so much for domination), is likely going to be just the beginning of the company's problems. The first thing Porsche has to be worried about is the fact that it will now be unable to secure a credit rating for itself by the time the self imposed May 31 deadline rolls. The company, which had recently been exclusively focused on containing the failed merger fallout, kinda forgot that absent a credit rating, the spread on its existing €10 billion loan will increase by 100 bps to EURIBOR + 425: 1% on 10 billion is not something to sneeze at.

A report by Loan Pricing Corporation cites a Porsche spokesman who said "It makes no sense at the moment to try to get a rating."

Amusingly, bankers who were stuck holding the massive loan, had hoped the 100 bps penalty would be sufficient incentive for the company to push for the rating, which would in turn allow it to refinance the loans with a bond issue. As it stands, the banks will end up holding a whole lot of secured loans, which, if Angela Merkel has her way, will get the same "super priority" treatment as secured lenders just got in the Chrysler bankruptcy.

Not only this, but additionally Porsche was expecting to raise an additional, and much needed, €2.5 billion loan by the end of May, which plan is now also on the scrap heap - according to bankers the car company has only managed to generate interest for €750 million of the total amount, which will also now likely be pulled as the expected merger is prematurely over.

As Porsche has managed to make a lot of friends in the hedge fund community, it is unable to solicit even usurious indications of interest from a rescue financing source: although, it would be very amusing to watch Dan Loeb or Larry Robbins lend Porsche €2.5 billion at a 150% rate (with a 200% cash flow sweep).

Instead, Porsche said on Tuesday that it was holding "promising talks" with a potential Middle East investor. Then again, Dubai is in such a flourishing economic condition, that it likely cant wait to hit "accept" on the fund flow button and hand over its last semblance of liquidity.

Just goes to show, that on Wall Street, no massive short squeeze goes unpunished...And also to think twice before you burn all bridges with the hedge fund community...The last is particularly relevant for Mr. Steven Rattner. Sphere: Related Content
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