1) As an equity investor, the hedge funds who have bought the...

1) As an equity investor, the hedge funds who have bought the debt are not your friend

2) The hedge funds have bought into this with a "loan to own" mentality. They've done the same thing with plenty of assets - mostly overgeared private equity backed assets - before. Think Nine Entertainment, I-med, Alinta. Look back at these case studies to see how the hedge funds treat equity.

3) If BBG finds itself in covenant breach / otherwise at the mercy of the lenders, then there are a couple of scenarios that can play out - either they put the company into administration, or they propose a debt for equity swap that sees them owning a very large percentage of the company. As equity holders you will be massively diluter.

4) Conventional wisdom is that debt holders do OK with retail assets if they put them into administration. Easier to deal with the landlords from this position. On that basis - hedgies mightn't be particularly interested in avoiding administration through a debt to equity swap.

5) I will guess that if the lenders end up controlling this thing, they will give a carrot of no more than $20 million to current equity holders to support a debt for equity swap. That is a deep discount to current market pricing.

6) read point 1 again.