Yellow Pages restructures, banks write off $1.05bn of debt

Wednesday 26th January 2011

Yellow Pages Group said its bankers have written of $1.05 billion of debt as part of a restructuring.

The directories company was sold by Telecom to a private equity consortium for $2.2 billion in 2007.

The group's senior lenders have now taken ownership of the company to carry out a restructuring. The trading businesses will be sold into a new corporate framework with new debt facilities. A total of $1.05 billion of debt has been written off, allowing the new entity to operate on a sound commercial basis.

After the restructure the company has a capital value of $750 million.

"The new capital structure means we can move forward with optimism and focus on enhancing the value of our brands through further investment and operational efficiencies," said Andrew Day, who takes up the role of chairman.

Day is a former chief executive of Telstra's yellow and white pages division, Sensis.

A new board will consist of former MediaWorks boss Brent Impey and Liz Coutts and Scott Pomeroy from Colorado and Paul Wilson of Sydney.

Last year the company breached its banking covenants and the restructuring announced today has been a source of media speculation.

The private equity consortium that purchased the business in 2007 comprised CCMP Capital and Teachers' Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

NZPA

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