Hedge funds looking to extract bigger returns from the companies they invest in have come up with a new game of hardball: Fail to file a quarterly report on time, and they’ll try to make you pay off your debt immediately, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Traditionally, when companies missed a deadline for filing their financial statements, bondholders would look the other way and let the company work out the kinks — even though, technically, the company was in default and bondholders could demand repayment.

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., for example, is in such a precarious position, analysts say. The company, which makes networking and telecommunications equipment, has less than $30 million in cash. That is far less than the $96.7 million payment that on Aug. 21 bondholders demanded to be accelerated.

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