Ukraine’s largest private electricity and coal producer DTEK Energy BV plans to pay interest due on a bond in September in full, as other firms from the war-torn nation seek to delay payments.
DTEK Energy will pay September’s $29.5 million coupon on its 2027 note in cash, its chief executive officer Maxim Timchenko said in an interview. That would mark the second successive quarter that the company has made a full coupon payment, stepping back from its proposal earlier this year to pay only a portion of the coupon to help shore up operations following Russia’s invasion.
The firm had reached an agreement with bondholders to change terms to allow it to pay 3.5% cash interest instead of the full 7% in upcoming quarters. However, it ultimately paid the June coupon at the full rate.
“Although we agreed an option to have four consecutive periods of half payment in kind we decided not to use this and leave it for later in case the situation gets worse,”
Maxim Timchenko said.
The private company’s plan to pay the coupon will probably come as a relief to investors, after a number of state-owned companies in Ukraine sought to delay debt payments. Road management company Ukravtodor and power company NPC Ukrenergo are seeking two-year payment delays on Eurobonds as Russia’s invasion forces companies to hang on to cash. The government in Kyiv also asked creditors for a similar delay in debt payments, gaining backing from key stake holders including the US.
