Holders of Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte S.A. ('Edenor' or the "Company") 9.75% Senior Notes due 2022 ("Notes") Form Ad Hoc Group to Oppose Consent Solicitation

NEW YORK, July 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- An ad hoc group of holders of Edenor Notes (the "Edenor Noteholder Group") announced today that it has organized and retained Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP for the purposes of advocating for the rights and interests of holders of Edenor Notes in light of the Company's announcement of a consent solicitation that attempts to strip holders of Notes of important rights arising out of the June 30, 2021 sale by Pampa Energía S.A. of its 51% stake in Edenor to Empresa de Energía del Cono Sur S.A., an event that triggered a "Change of Control" under Section 10.3 of the October 25, 2010 Edenor Notes indenture (the "Indenture"). 

On July 16, 2021, Edenor announced a Consent Solicitation expiring on July 30, 2021 seeking noteholder consent to waive the repurchase rights conveyed in the Change of Control provisions of the Indenture, in exchange for a consent payment of $20 per $1,000 principal amount of the Notes.  The members of the Edenor Noteholder Group intend to decline to participate in the consent solicitation and urge all holders of Notes to do the same. 

The Change of Control provision contained in Section 10.3 if the Indenture requiring the Company to redeem the notes at par at the option of noteholders is a basic and fundamental right included in non-investment grade corporate bond indentures.  Per the terms of Section 10.3, absent a voluntary waiver, Edenor will be required to offer to redeem the Notes at par no later than September 30, 2021.  We are disappointed at the Company's improper attempt to strip noteholders of this important right after triggering the change of control provision.   The Notes currently trade at a substantial discount to par, and the consent payment offered by Edenor falls far short of what noteholders should require to forego the option to have their bonds redeemed at par by the end of September of this year.  The brash move of seeking such a waiver more than two weeks after triggering a Change of Control event (and 14 days from when a Change of Control notice is due to be sent out to noteholders) evidences at best a lack of forethought and at worst a disregard for the Company's creditors —the type of risks Section 10.3 is designed to protect noteholders against. 

The Edenor Noteholder Group welcomes the participation of other interested investors in declining to participate in the consent solicitation and urges interested noteholders to contact Dennis Hranitzky of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP at [email protected] for more information or to become a member of the Edenor Noteholder Group. 

Media contact:
Prosek Partners
Brian Schaffer / Josh Clarkson
[email protected] / [email protected]
212-279-3115

SOURCE The ad hoc group of Edenor noteholders