Detroit said yesterday that it reached an agreement with two investment banks to end costly interest rate swaps, a move that could give Detroit access to revenue from casino taxes and give it leverage in efforts to win court approval for the city's plan to restructure its debt, Reuters reported yesterday. The deal to terminate the swaps, which were used to hedge interest rate risk on some Detroit pension debt, would cost the bankrupt city just $85 million. That is a steep drop from two previous deals that carried price tags of $165 million and around $230 million, respectively, and were rejected by Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes as being too expensive for the bankrupt city.
