Worldline Bond Buyers Nurse Steep Loss Just Weeks After Sale

As financial markets rebounded from tariff turmoil, French payments processor Worldline SA seized on the momentum by kicking off a half a billion-euro bond sale to refinance debt. Demand for the offering was so strong that the company increased the sale to €550 million ($645 million).

Just three weeks later, buyers of the debt are sitting on big losses and contemplating next steps after a series of news reports alleging that the company covered up fraud by some of its customers sent its stock and bonds tumbling. Within hours of the reports, the bonds had dropped from near par to as low as 87 cents on the euro, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.