"Debt-for-equity swap boosts Revlon finances"

I've stumbled across this blast from the past illustrating how debt-for-equity-swaps work in real life:

In a move to dramatically strengthen its balance sheet, cosmetics company Revlon has brokered agreements with fund managers Fidelity Investments and MacAndrews & Forbes to swap bonds for company shares. After years of surviving on emergency cash infusions from financier Ronald Perelman, analysts say that the company may have finally found a longer-term financial solution.

The refinancing agreement will cut the company’s $1.9 billion debt load almost in half with a debt reduction amounting to $930 million...

The news is a boon for holders of Revlon’s bonds since the value of these offers either exceeds or approaches [the par value of the bonds] based on the company’s current stock price. This is reflected in the spreads on the firm’s bonds, which are no longer trading at distressed levels.

Which is exactly how the banks would have dealt with things, had the government not lumbered in with £37 billion of taxpayers' finest.