Dutch subsea survey and offshore vessel operator Fugro has scrapped a plan to sell €500m ($554m) of notes as the coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc with stock markets worldwide.
The Euronext Amsterdam-listed company said "adverse market conditions" meant it would not proceed with the offering "at this time".
The company intended the new notes to mature in 2025.
Fugro said it had launched the sale of the senior secured notes on 21 February.
But it did so in the teeth of huge uncertainty in the world economy due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Its own share price has dropped from €11 to €7.69 since 18 February.
Refinancing plans wrecked
As a result of the pulling of the deal, its current €575m revolving credit facility will remain in place and it will not buy back its €190m convertible bond issue due in 2021.
The bond sale was a condition of it entering into a new revolver worth €200m.
This would have expired in four and a half years, with cash coming from a syndicate of ING, Rabobank, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, HSBC and Bank of China.
The move was part of an overall refinancing that saw it announce a €81.8m share issue on 19 February.
At that time it said the bond sale could raise up to €550m.
Fugro had carried out "sounding discussions" with a select number of investors before announcing the deals, it said.
BNP Paribas was managing the bond buyback.
The company operates 30 offshore vessels including multipurpose support ships, research units and survey ships.
