Beyond Meat slumps after early settlement of convertible debt exchange offer

Oct 13 (Reuters News) - Beyond Meat BYND.O shares tumbled more than 56% in early trading after the plant-based meat maker announced an early settlement of an exchange offer with its bondholders through the issue of fresh shares and notes to reduce its debt pile.

Its stock was trading at about 88 cents after the company said nearly 97% of its bondholders agreed to swap their old debt for new notes and shares.

Beyond Meat's shares dropped 36% on September 29 when it had launched the exchange offer to cut more than $800 million in debt.

The once Wall Street darling's shares had touched a record high of $239.71 in July 2019, but has struggled with deteriorating consumer sentiment around plant-based meat.

Annual revenue is expected to fall nearly 14% to $281.57 million in the current fiscal year.

The company went public in a blockbuster listing in 2019, with the stock opening at $46, well above its IPO price of $25, and had a market capitalization of around $3.8 billion at the time.

Beyond Meat said on Monday it would issue about $208.7 million in new 7% convertible notes due 2030 and around 316 million shares of common stock to participating investors.

The company's outstanding shares stood at 76.65 million, as of last close.

The early settlement is expected on October 15 after the company surpassed the minimum participation threshold of 85%.

According to its latest annual filing, the company had about $1.3 billion in debt, as of December 31, 2024.

The company has a short interest of 51.6% of its free float, according to LSEG data, and the stock is down about 46% so far this year.