Builder Porr delays bond after Alpine insolvency
Austrian construction group Porr has abandoned for now a 150 million euro ($201 million) bond issue planned for the start of July after peer Alpine filed for insolvency, Chief Executive Karl-Heinz Strauss said on Thursday.
The move by Alpine Bau, the Austrian construction unit of Spanish group FCC, meant Porr would not now be able to sell the bond at the interest rate it wanted, he told Reuters in an interview.
"We have postponed our bond plan indefinitely," he said.
"Alpine's insolvency offers both risks and opportunities," Strauss said, reiterating his company could buy parts of its ailing rival and take on 3,000 to 4,000 workers in Austria.
He said he had no interest in Alpine's foreign business, saying it had too many "legacy burdens".
Alpine Bau GmbH, Austria's second-biggest construction firm, filed for insolvency on Wednesday with liabilities of up to 2.6 billion euros in what could become the country's biggest corporate collapse since World War Two.
Strauss said Porr, which swung back to profit last year, intended to reduce its debt load of nearly 600 million euros.
"In the next 24 to 36 months we will pass on to investors non-core property worth 700 million to 800 million euros," he said. ($1 = 0.7461 euros) (Writing by Georgina Prodhan and Michael Shields; editing by Patrick Graham)
