Beyond Meat slumps as shareholders agonize over debt exchange offer

(Reuters News) -Beyond Meat shares tumbled as much as 58% on Monday 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 manage its debt. Once a Wall Street darling, the company has in recent years struggled with changing consumer sentiment around taste, price and processing, particularly in the U.S. Shares of the company, which disclosed about $1.3 billion in debt at the end of 2024, were last trading at $1.03. The stock hit a record high of $239.71 in July 2019, just months after a blockbuster debut.  Beyond Meat will issue about $208.7 million in new 7% convertible notes due 2030 and around 316 million shares to participating investors after nearly 97% of its bondholders agreed to the swap. While the exchange provides Beyond Meat more time to pay down its debt, the stock offering means a massive dilution. The company's outstanding shares stood at 76.65 million, as of last close. Beyond Meat's shares dropped 36% on September 29 when the company launched the exchange offer to cut more than $800 million in debt. With current short interest at about 64% of its total free float, the company is also among the most shorted U.S. stocks, data from analytics firm Ortex showed. Beyond Meat withdrew its annual targets in May after missing quarterly expectations. Analysts expect its revenue to fall nearly 14% to $281.57 million in the current fiscal year, according to data compiled by LSEG. 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. The early settlement is expected on October 15 after the company surpassed the minimum participation threshold of 85%. The stock has fallen for four years straight and is down about 46% so far in 2025, according to LSEG data. (Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lance Tupper and Shashwat Chauhan; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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