Dizz calls bondholders’ meeting days before €8 million repayment deadline

The Dizz Group – owned by Diane and Karl Izzo – has called a bondholders’ meeting nine days before an €8 million repayment deadline, seeking approval to change guarantees after a sale intended to help fund that repayment changed structure.

The meeting, later this month, concerns D Shopping Malls Finance’s €7.5 million bonds due in 2028. The proposed changes relate to a transaction whose proceeds were earmarked to help repay a separate Dizz Finance bond on 7 October.

The transaction originally involved transferring part of the lease over the Sliema Wanderers commercial complex in Sliema, in a deal valued at €9.5 million.

In its latest announcement, D Shopping Malls Finance said the buyer now intends to purchase the shares in D Shopping Malls Limited, rather than take over the lease held by that company.

D Shopping Malls Limited also guarantees the 2028 bonds.

The proposed sale has prompted Dizz to ask investors to approve replacement or additional support from other companies.

A guarantee commits another company to meet payment obligations if the bond issuer cannot, subject to its terms.

Under the previously announced plan, €9 million from the transaction would be lent to Dizz Group of Companies Limited and used by Dizz Finance to repay its €8 million bonds in October.

The Shift reported in July that the lease transaction had not been confirmed as completed in the group’s latest financial disclosures.

Dizz disputed that its ability to meet its obligations depended on any single transaction and maintained that repayment remained on track.

The proposed new guarantors are Dizz Manufacturing Limited and The Retail Operations Mall Ltd, part of the same group but with different assets.

According to the group, the assets intended to support the arrangement include D Hub, an office property in Mrieħel, the Centerparc lease and a Qui-Si-Sana apartment. D Hub would replace the D Mall lease in the package.

The company says D Hub was independently valued at €17 million.

According to the Izzo’s, the changes are intended to preserve or improve bondholders’ position, without releasing the existing guarantor unless appropriate replacement support is provided.

The resolution also allows other entities to provide support, subject to final documentation and applicable requirements.

The Group insisted that the repayment of the 2026 bond in October remains on track.