Avaya Lenders Tap Centerview, Alvarez as Advisers Amid Debt Battering

Paula Seligson and Rachel Butt, Bloomberg News

A pedestrian walks in front of Avaya Holdings Corp. headquarters in Santa Clara, California, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. Avaya is in talks to form a joint venture with videoconferencing provider RingCentral Inc. and is leaning toward abandoning plans for a full sale of the company. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- A group of Avaya Holdings Corp. debt holders hired advisers to help navigate negotiations with the company after a rapid earnings decline, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named discussing a private situation.

Alvarez & Marsal Inc was tapped as a forensic accountant while Centerview Partners LLC will act as a financial adviser, the people said.

The group is made up of older first-lien leveraged loan and secured bond holders and is getting legal advice from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Bloomberg reported. The group told Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last week that they intend to call a default on Avaya if the company fails to file its quarterly results within a grace period that could end in mid-September.

Telecommunications software company Avaya’s debt fell sharply in recent weeks after the company announced a significant earnings miss, a few weeks after it issued $600 million in new debt. The company now has “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern, with revenue plunging and a large chunk of convertible debt maturing in less than a year, according to a statement on Aug. 9.

Representatives for Centerview and Avaya declined to comment. Representatives for Akin and Alvarez & Marsal didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lenders who helped provide a $350 million leveraged loan to Avaya in June are working with FTI Consulting Inc. and Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes to explore their options, and Avaya is getting advice from AlixPartners LLC, Evercore Inc. and long-time counsel Kirkland & Ellis, Bloomberg previously reported.

Avaya’s 6.125% bond due 2028 trades at around 41 cents on the dollar, while its convertible notes change hands for around 20 cents, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The company’s older loans reached a recent low of roughly 46 cents, while the new loan is quoted in the mid-50s, the people said.

(Updates to add forensic accountant hire in second paragraph, comments in fifth.)