Alarm bells

NXP’s proposed debt exchange is struggling to get off the ground. The Dutch chipmaker, bought by a consortium of private equity firms in 2006, urgently needs to reduce its $5.7bn debt pile. But its offer to bondholders, giving them the chance to swap their notes for super-senior loans which would have first priority in a liquidation, had less than 10% take-up by this week’s half way deadline. Under the offer terms, holders of NXP’s total $1.9bn unsecured notes issued in a mix of dollars and eur...