Photographer: Scott Carpenter/Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) — Coinstar LLC, the coin-exchange and cryptocurrency business owned by Apollo Global Management Inc., plans to repay bondholders next month as part of its surprise sale to a company that oversees investments for natives of Alaska’s far north, according to people familiar with the matter.
The planned sale to Arctic Slope Regional Corp., created in 1972 as part of a US government settlement with the state’s indigenous residents, hasn’t been previously disclosed.
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As part of the acquisition ASRC will repay more than $750 million of principal plus all interest in early January, according to a notice posted privately to owners of Coinstar’s bonds, known as whole business securitizations.
Photographer: Scott Carpenter/Bloomberg
A spokesperson for Coinstar said it doesn’t comment on potential transactions, and Apollo declined to comment. ASRC didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The expected debt repayment is welcome news for creditors, who in 2023 agreed to a restructuring of Coinstar’s debt to help the company weather a cash crunch. At least some investors and analysts had fretted there was a chance the debt might at some point need to be restructured a second time due to long-term business headwinds, according to some of the people.
ASRC owns businesses in sectors like construction, petroleum refining and government contract services, according to its website. It’s among the dozen such companies formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, an early 1970s law that provided the region’s natives with millions of acres and $1 billion of compensation in return for the loss of their lands.
It’s owned by some 14,000 Iñupiaq shareholders in villages such as Wainwright, Utqiaġvik and Anaktuvuk Pass. The company said in 2017 that it had distributed more than $1 billion in dividend payouts to its shareholders since its creation.
Coinstar, which was acquired by Apollo in 2016, operates a network of over 24,000 kiosks where customers exchange loose change for cash. The company struggled with a slowdown after the pandemic and went on to expand its digital-currency offerings. Last year it began allowing customers to use cash to buy cryptocurrency at its kiosks or through an app.
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