Taylor Wimpey, parent company of U.S.-based Taylor Morrison, continues its marathon race to restructure its debt before Feb. 9, when it will probably be in default on loan agreements without some forbearance from lenders.
Already impacted by the still-slowing home sales market in the U.S., the U.K.-based company is now taking hits in its home country, where home sales this year have fallen even faster than the U.S. market did.
The company has been in talks with leading holders of its bank debt for months with the hope of getting the covenants changed by year's end. But recently, the company extended that discussion to the holders of its privately placed Eurobond debt as well to reset the company's debt covenants and give it some breathing room. The Eurobonds account for £450 million of its total £1.7 billion of debt.
As a result, the company doesn't expect to have new agreements in place until next year.
"The recent unprecedented events in world financial markets have reinforced the board's cautious view of the short-term outlook for U.K. housing," the company said in a release. "In the current environment, securing a comprehensive financing structure that is robust under all reasonable downside scenarios is essential."
In the meantime, Taylor Wimpey has replaced Peter Johnson, its group finance director, with Christopher Rickard, who has extensive experience working in capital-intensive manufacturing and service industries, according to the company.
Within a year of the July '07 merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey in the United Kingdom, the company began to log large losses as the home building business slowed down in Great Britain in the wake of the U.S. market meltdown.
By last summer the company was attempting to raise £500 million, or roughly $1 billion from its current shareholders to help ward off covenant breaches. When that was unsuccessful, it began to look for other avenues to stave off loan covenant breaches next year.
