Essity bondholders request meeting over debt repayment claim

By Agata Rybska and Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Essity creditors demanded on Friday that the Swedish hygiene products maker must convene a general meeting of noteholders to discuss a repayment of the company's bonds, advisors to the ad-hoc group said.

The bondholders have said Essity's recent sale of its 52% stake in Hong Kong's Vinda International constituted a default on the terms of the Swedish company's notes maturing in 2029, 2030 and 2031, and that they should thus be repaid in full.

"The group is willing to discuss with Essity the manner and terms on which such repayment would be made," the bondholders' advisors Houlihan Lokey and White & Case said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

Essity was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters on Friday.

The Swedish company has denied that the sale of the Vinda stake violated a so-called "cessation of business" bond clause, and said its ownership in the Asian company had accounted for only about 8.5% of overall sales.

Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto-owned Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) agreed in December to acquire Vinda for HK$26.13 billion ($3.34 billion), edging out other bidders.

Essity's outstanding bonds amount to some 44.77 billion Swedish crowns ($4.24 billion), out of which around 18 billion are in the bonds maturing in 2029, 2030, and 2031, according to LSEG data.

($1 = 7.8220 Hong Kong dollars)

($1 = 10.5604 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Marie Mannes in Stockholm and Agata Rybska in Gdansk, editing by Terje Solsvik)