Frontera goes to court over Outrider loan note squabble

Oil and gas firm Frontera Resources filed an action in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands in relation to loan notes issued to Outrider Master Fund.

Frontera's wholly-owned subsidiary, Frontera International Corporation, issued the loan notes in question to the California-based Outrider Management's fund back in 2016, with a due date in 2020.

The court granted Frontera's request for an injunction and assured investors that it intends to "vigorously assert its rights".

The 2016 notes accrued interest at the rate of 10% per year and were convertible into shares, at the option of the holder, at a conversion rate of $0.25 per share. During 2016 the Company elected to pay the quarterly interest payments in kind and issued approximately $1.8 million in additional convertible notes in accordance with the terms of the note purchase agreements.

On October 2016, Frontera and Outrider Master Fund agreed to exchange the notes for new secured unconvertible notes maturing on 1 August 2020, followed by the issuance of new notes on the same terms to other holders of the 2016 Notes. As a result of this exchange, the note holders exchanged $30.1m of principal in the original notes into new secured notes due August 2020. There was $1.5m in associated interest.

Frontera has also been locked in a dispute with investment company Yorkville Advisors over convertible shares.

In other news, Frontera, which received a request for arbitration from Georgian Oil and Gas and the nation's State Agency of Oil and Gas regarding certain terms of the outfit's production sharing contract back in April, also told investors that arbitration proceedings were continuing and that it remained confident of its standing and "complete compliance with the PSC".

As of 0905 BST, Frontera shares had climbed 4.35% to 0.40p.