NEWS ANALYSIS: Eskom sits tight as its debt default looms
Eskom executives are doing nothing — leaving it to the government to step in
As its debt obligations draw close, Eskom is immobilised. It is anybody’s guess whether the company will still issue the $1bn bond it had planned for January; it is also anybody’s guess whether it will meet its promise to release its interim financial statements by the end of January. On both counts, the safer guess is no. There is talk among some bankers that the international bond issue has been postponed to March after the bank it approached refused bridge to bond facilities and the arranging has not been done. Eskom will not answer any specific questions and said vaguely on Wednesday that the international debt capital markets remained a source that it could explore and that bonds "are issued as and when the market conditions allow". The last willing lender, Absa, closed its doors to Eskom in September. Most banks could probably have recalled their short-term loans around then and the qualification on Eskom’s annual financial results would already have put it in default.While th...
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