EP 23 | Aston Martin's £550M Lifeline and the LME Blocker Problem

Aston Martin just moved what looks like most of its intellectual property into a chain of Cayman Islands subsidiaries, and bondholders are still trying to figure out how it was allowed. Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon take it on in the latest Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond, joined by Bart Capeci, Senior Covenants Analyst at Octus, and Aditya Khanna, Head of EMEA Legal Research at Octus.

The conversation opens on the £550 million HPS facility, £450 million upfront with a £100 million delayed draw tied to IP transfer (01:00), before working through the joint venture structure that appears to sidestep the J. Crew blocker in the bonds (03:47). Bondholders, now organized at roughly 90%, have filed in New York to compel discovery ahead of an English challenge under the Insolvency Act (05:12). 

Aditya then widens the lens to why fewer than half of European bond deals carry a J. Crew blocker, and why over two-thirds of those that do have a material defect (16:12).

A grounded look at why the LME playbook is landing in Europe faster than the documentation can catch up.

The episode ends with Phoebe on the hot seat for a quick quiz.

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Hosted by Phoebe Appenteng and Katie McMahon.
Guests: Bart Capeci, Senior Covenants Analyst, Octus, and Aditya Khanna, Head of EMEA Legal Research, Octus.
Produced by Charlie Hall.
Edited by Fawaz Muhammed.
A Production of The Octus Podcast Network

Creators and Guests

Host

Katie McMahon

Katie McMahon is Senior CEEMEA Reporter at Octus and a host of Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond. She covers distressed credit, special situations, and restructuring across Central Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, reporting on large corporate debt workouts as well as the sovereign debt of countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Angola, Ghana, and Zambia. Before joining Octus, Katie was Managing Editor of EnterpriseAM, a daily briefing on business, finance, and policy news in Egypt, having joined the publication as a reporter covering daily business and finance news out of Cairo. She holds a B.A. in Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies and German Literature and Cultural History from Columbia University, and studied Arabic through the Center for Arabic Study Abroad at the American University in Cairo. She speaks Arabic and German.

Host

Phoebe Appenteng

Phoebe Appenteng is a Senior Credit Editor at Octus and co-host of Credit Lens: Europe and Beyond, where she brings a big-picture, macro-driven perspective to the conversation. She has spent more than a decade editing news and analytical copy across reporters, analysts, and legal teams, keeping content accurate, rigorous, and client-ready. Born in Ghana and raised between Accra and London, Phoebe studied Financial Economics at the University of Dundee in Scotland with a year abroad at the University of Oklahoma, and law at BPP University in London. She is based in London. Outside work, she is a committed reformer pilates practitioner and a devoted fan of K-dramas.

What is Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond?

Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond explores the people, stories, and forces shaping credit across EMEA and beyond.

Hosted by Octus editor Phoebe Appenteng and reporter Katie McMahon, Credit Lens: Europe & Beyond brings timely analysis and context on distressed debt, restructurings, new issuance, private capital flows, and the political and economic shifts moving markets.

It is made for credit investors, legal advisors, syndicate desks, and anyone curious about how European credit really works. Each episode is smart, conversational, and focused on what matters most.

New episodes every two weeks.