As a case history (as I have mentioned before on the threads) the closest comparable to Centro's current situation is Rupert Murdoch & Newscorp.
In the late 1980's Murdoch went on an acquisition trail and borrowed against everything he had & even some things he didn't have. As a consequence in 1990 he had more than $7.4 billion of debt with ~146 international financial institutions. $2.6B of short term debt fell due triggering a financial crisis that sent Newscorp to the brink.
A "debt override" plan which cost Newscorp an additional $2.5B over 6 years was put into effect. One Bank however (The Pittsburgh National Bank) refused to a debt extension ... sound familiar??? resulting in Murdoch being unable to pay without selling Newscorp stock (properties), which he refused to do!
Eventually the Bank rolled over pulling Murdoch back from the brink & Murdoch sold a newspaper called 'The Star Newspaper' for $400 million - the rest as you know, is history. These days the Company owns properties, newspapers, television stations, film studios, internet sites etc etc and owns more than anybody else as well as having a revenue exceeding >$25 billion per annum.
Now as I posted 3 or 4 days ago on a CNP thread, there was a Forbes article which mentioned that Centro was currently negotiating with with 2 private groups for the selling of 3 of its top 28 Shopping Centres that are part of its Wholesale Fund. They (Centro) have often mentioned several times to the press that they would only need a week to sell any of these properties as they were well sought after and had a list of willing purchasers waiting to snaffle them in the wings. Does that also sound familiar??? I don't think the $200m will be a problem for Centro - at all!
I hope that helps!
Cheers, Pie :-)
PS: Note: Parts of the above figures/information were researched off various internet sites.
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