Petra Diamonds pushes out debt wall with multi-part refinancing

London listed miner Petra Diamonds has secured shareholder approval for a sweeping refinancing plan that pushes out its near term maturities and introduces greater flexibility across its capital structure, with Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer advising on the multi-part process.

The package centres on a consent solicitation to extend the company’s US$99 million revolving credit facility from January 2026 to December 2029 and to push the maturity of its US$228 million senior secured second lien notes from March 2026 to March 2030. The note amendments also add a payment in cash or equity feature that gives Petra room to conserve liquidity if diamond markets remain volatile. Alongside the extensions, the company will raise roughly £18.8 million through a fully-underwritten rights issue backed by key existing shareholders.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer fielded a large cross practice team with partners Mark Bardell, Gabrielle Wong, Sarah Ries Coward, Kevin Pullen and Shaun Williamson leading, supported by senior associates Felipe Lima, Owen Roberts and Rory White Andrews, and a bench of associates including Robert Candeland, Shareka Logendran, Meenakshi Kurpad, Rhys Williams, Katerina Jovanovska, Bilal Ahmadzai, Jack Aynsley and Jhanelle Bisasor.

Petra’s shareholders approved all resolutions at a special general meeting held on 6 November, paving the way for the consent solicitation process and rights issue to proceed.