Yellow Media (TSX: Y) managed to refinance its 9.25% senior secured notes due November 30, 2018 to November 1, 2022. According to the press release, the new notes are priced at 98 cents on the dollar and will give out a 10% coupon. This works out to roughly a 10.6% effective yield (assuming payout at maturity of par value).
The original senior secured notes had a payment provision where the company had give out a large percentage of its free cash flow to redeem the notes at par. It is not known whether that covenant will be in place for the new notes issuance.
My question is – why are the unsecured debentures (TSX: YPG.DB) (due November 30, 2022 and about $107 million principal value) trading at a value that is comparable to the 10.6% yield of the newly issued senior secured notes? The conversion option at $19.07/share is over double out-of-the-money and these holders don’t have security. It would seem to me that the unsecured debentures should be trading lower.