Alstom considers covenant waiver

French engineering company Alstom last month stated that it may have to ask its banks to waive covenants on a €1.26 billion restructuring loan that was only signed last October, as part of an €8.2 billion refinancing package.

Sophie Coutaux, in the corporates division at Fitch Ratings in Paris, believes it is in the banks’ best interests to waive the covenants, although they would do so unenthusiastically. “They do not want to cut the branch on which they are sitting,” she says.

Coutaux suggests