On Sept. 16, 2024, TalkTalk Telecom Group Ltd. announced that it had received consent from its lenders to implement the proposed restructuring transaction that considers exchanging the revolving credit facility (RCF) and senior secured notes into first-lien and second-lien instruments and extending their maturities to September 2027 and March 2028, respectively. The company has also received consent from all RCF lenders to capitalize RCF interest payments due in September and November 2024. We view this forbearance arrangement as a default and the proposed transaction as a distressed exchange and tantamount to a default under our criteria. We therefore lowered our long-term issuer credit rating on TalkTalk and our issue rating on its senior secured notes to 'D' (default) from 'CC'.
