Street Talk

Bingo lenders shop debt after S&P downgrade

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Feb 26, 2025 – 5.00am

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Two weeks after Macquarie’s garbo Bingo Industries sunk deeper into the junk bond territory, pieces of it have washed up on distressed debt funds’ doorsteps just like S&P predicted.

Street Talk can reveal a handful of sharp-nosed credit funds in Sydney have in recent days fielded approaches from New York’s Cantor Fitzgerald, which is asking for bids for a $100 million-plus parcel of Bingo debt. While Cantor did not disclose the seller’s identity or get into the nitty-gritty on pricing, sources suggested it was likely fronting for a US lender in Bingo’s stack including CLOs (collateralised loan obligations).

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.