Sat, August 26, 2023
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A new plan for restructuring $10 billion in debt owed by Puerto Rico’s power company was filed late Friday in the latest attempt to end a lengthy bankruptcy process marked by acrimonious negotiations.
The plan filed by a federal control board that oversees the U.S. territory’s finances would cut the debt of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority by nearly 80% to some $2.5 billion.
“We hope that we will be closing not just the chapter but most of the book on the largest public sector bankruptcy in the United States,” Robert Mujica, the board’s executive director, said in a meeting with reporters.
If confirmed by a federal bankruptcy judge, the plan would mean an increase in already high power bills for many people on the island if the new charge is approved by Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau.
On average, residential bills would increase by nearly $9 a month and commercial bills by $35.
Some 1.4 million customers would not pay the new charge if they consume less than 425 kilowatt-hours a month, the plan states. The average monthly power consumption for a U.S. residential customer is about 886 kilowatt-hours, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Recent electric bill increases have been criticized by many on the island of 3.2 million people hit by power outages ever since the grid was razed by Hurricane Maria in 2017, with crews only recently starting to rebuild it.
The newest debt restructuring plan is backed by companies that hold more than 40% of uninsured bonds issued by Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, according to the board. Those companies agreed to buy new bonds issued by the power authority, which would then use that money to pay some creditors in cash.
Friday’s filing comes more than eight years after Puerto Rico announced that it was unable to pay its more than $70 billion public debt, which was accumulated through decades of corruption, mismanagement and excessive borrowing.
In 2017, it filed for the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Since then, most of the debt owed by Puerto Rico’s government agencies has been restructured, except that of the power company, with efforts stalled amid tense and drawn-out negotiations.
The debt restructuring plan filed Friday is the third such plan and comes after a federal judge earlier reduced bondholders’ claims.
“Nobody wins … if (the power company) remains financially unstable,” board chairman David Skeel said during the meeting with reporters.
Last week, former board member Justin Peterson, who was appointed by then President Donald Trump, announced he was resigning because he did not support a restructuring deal that he said was “unfair, coercive and discriminatory.”
He accused the board of “essentially wiping out bondholders while keeping pensions fully intact. This is wrong.”
Skeel said the plan could be confirmed in January, but there are challenges from those who oppose the newest plan.
Dánica Coto, The Associated Press
BlackRock-Backed Puerto Rico Utility Deal Would Cut Debt by 75%
Michelle Kaske
Fri, August 25, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico’s bankrupt power utility has reached a deal with BlackRock Financial Management and Nuveen Asset Management to slash its debt load by about 75%, even as other creditors have said they oppose the accord.
The island’s federally-appointed financial oversight board, which is managing Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s bankruptcy, struck the agreement with a new group of investors holding $2.4 billion of utility debt including BlackRock, Nuveen, Franklin Advisers, Taconic Capital Advisors and Whitebox Advisors. The deal aims to reduce combined claims of $10 billion down to about $2.5 billion of new bonds.
Other creditors including GoldenTree Asset Management, Syncora Guarantee and Assured Guaranty have said they may fight the accord in court. The parties may hash out some of their disagreements before US District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who’s set to hold a hearing on Wednesday.
After Puerto Rico reduced tens of billions of general obligation debt and sales-tax bonds through consensual restructuring agreements, the bankruptcy of Prepa, as the utility is called, is proving to be much more contentious. The deal would give bondholders who sign the agreement 12.5 cents on the dollar on what they were owed when Prepa entered bankruptcy in July 2017, and 3.5 cents for investors who decline to join the restructuring plan.
“We understand that the terms of the plan — which reflect the current realities — may be difficult to accept for some, but we still hope we can get more bondholders to join the agreement and that this will end Prepa’s bankruptcy once and for all,” David Skeel, chair of the oversight board, told reporters Friday.
A Prepa bond with a 5% coupon and maturing in 2032 last traded on Aug. 17 at an average price of 37.4 cents on the dollar, down from around 65 cents at the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
While the deal helps to push forward a six-year bankruptcy that’s been delayed by Puerto Rico’s own debt restructuring, hurricanes and the pandemic, potential appeals from creditors and bond insurers could prolong the workout. Prepa needs to modernize its old and neglected power grid to stabilize electricity rates and end chronic blackouts.
“Prepa will remain a sustainable utility, continue critical investments and complete the transformation of Puerto Rico’s energy system to provide more reliable energy and support Puerto Rico’s economic growth and fiscal stability,” Robert Mujica, the board’s executive director, told reporters on Friday.
The deal is part of a debt-cutting proposal the oversight board filed to the court on Friday and is the last major piece of Puerto Rico debt that needs to be restructured. It includes a new monthly charge of $8.71, on average, for some residents to repay the new bonds. Many Puerto Ricans object to any kind of additional electricity fee as they already pay some of the highest rates in the US. The island’s Energy Bureau, an independent energy regulator, would need to approve any new fee.
Skeel and Mujica are hoping the court will hold a confirmation hearing on the plan sometime in January. They anticipate it will need to go through another solicitation process where all bondholders, including individual investors, vote on the plan.
Creditors Split
Judge Swain in March dealt a blow to bondholders when she ruled that they only had a secured claim to about $16 million that Prepa had already deposited into reserve accounts. In June she capped their right to the utility’s net revenue at $2.38 billion, a small portion of the nearly $9 billion of bonds and loans Prepa had outstanding when it entered bankruptcy.
Those rulings split the original ad hoc bondholder group represented by Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, and which has now disbanded.
BlackRock in May hired Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to help restructure certain bonds, according to court documents. Nuveen and the other firms joined with BlackRock earlier this month.
GoldenTree Asset Management, which held $835 million of Prepa debt, as of Aug. 14, claims it was excluded from the bondholder negotiations and has said it would seek an appeal of the board’s current proposal.
Invesco Advisers, which held $604 million of Prepa debt as of Aug. 14, and was a former member of the Kramer Levin group, has declined to join the BlackRock pool or GoldenTree’s attempt to lift a stay on putting in a receiver, according to court documents.
Dominic Federico, Assured Guaranty’s chief executive officer, described the board’s current offer in an Aug. 9 earnings call as “insulting” and said the insurer would seek litigation. The company guaranteed $446 million of Prepa’s net par debt, as of March 31.
Michelle Kaske
Fri, August 25, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico’s bankrupt power utility has reached a deal with BlackRock Financial Management and Nuveen Asset Management to slash its debt load by about 75%, even as other creditors have said they oppose the accord.
The island’s federally-appointed financial oversight board, which is managing Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s bankruptcy, struck the agreement with a new group of investors holding $2.4 billion of utility debt including BlackRock, Nuveen, Franklin Advisers, Taconic Capital Advisors and Whitebox Advisors. The deal aims to reduce combined claims of $10 billion down to about $2.5 billion of new bonds.
Other creditors including GoldenTree Asset Management, Syncora Guarantee and Assured Guaranty have said they may fight the accord in court. The parties may hash out some of their disagreements before US District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who’s set to hold a hearing on Wednesday.
After Puerto Rico reduced tens of billions of general obligation debt and sales-tax bonds through consensual restructuring agreements, the bankruptcy of Prepa, as the utility is called, is proving to be much more contentious. The deal would give bondholders who sign the agreement 12.5 cents on the dollar on what they were owed when Prepa entered bankruptcy in July 2017, and 3.5 cents for investors who decline to join the restructuring plan.
“We understand that the terms of the plan — which reflect the current realities — may be difficult to accept for some, but we still hope we can get more bondholders to join the agreement and that this will end Prepa’s bankruptcy once and for all,” David Skeel, chair of the oversight board, told reporters Friday.
A Prepa bond with a 5% coupon and maturing in 2032 last traded on Aug. 17 at an average price of 37.4 cents on the dollar, down from around 65 cents at the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
While the deal helps to push forward a six-year bankruptcy that’s been delayed by Puerto Rico’s own debt restructuring, hurricanes and the pandemic, potential appeals from creditors and bond insurers could prolong the workout. Prepa needs to modernize its old and neglected power grid to stabilize electricity rates and end chronic blackouts.
“Prepa will remain a sustainable utility, continue critical investments and complete the transformation of Puerto Rico’s energy system to provide more reliable energy and support Puerto Rico’s economic growth and fiscal stability,” Robert Mujica, the board’s executive director, told reporters on Friday.
The deal is part of a debt-cutting proposal the oversight board filed to the court on Friday and is the last major piece of Puerto Rico debt that needs to be restructured. It includes a new monthly charge of $8.71, on average, for some residents to repay the new bonds. Many Puerto Ricans object to any kind of additional electricity fee as they already pay some of the highest rates in the US. The island’s Energy Bureau, an independent energy regulator, would need to approve any new fee.
Skeel and Mujica are hoping the court will hold a confirmation hearing on the plan sometime in January. They anticipate it will need to go through another solicitation process where all bondholders, including individual investors, vote on the plan.
Creditors Split
Judge Swain in March dealt a blow to bondholders when she ruled that they only had a secured claim to about $16 million that Prepa had already deposited into reserve accounts. In June she capped their right to the utility’s net revenue at $2.38 billion, a small portion of the nearly $9 billion of bonds and loans Prepa had outstanding when it entered bankruptcy.
Those rulings split the original ad hoc bondholder group represented by Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, and which has now disbanded.
BlackRock in May hired Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to help restructure certain bonds, according to court documents. Nuveen and the other firms joined with BlackRock earlier this month.
GoldenTree Asset Management, which held $835 million of Prepa debt, as of Aug. 14, claims it was excluded from the bondholder negotiations and has said it would seek an appeal of the board’s current proposal.
Invesco Advisers, which held $604 million of Prepa debt as of Aug. 14, and was a former member of the Kramer Levin group, has declined to join the BlackRock pool or GoldenTree’s attempt to lift a stay on putting in a receiver, according to court documents.
Dominic Federico, Assured Guaranty’s chief executive officer, described the board’s current offer in an Aug. 9 earnings call as “insulting” and said the insurer would seek litigation. The company guaranteed $446 million of Prepa’s net par debt, as of March 31.
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