Puerto Rico’s main electricity provider, PREPA, failed to extend a contract with its bond insurers that has given the power company time to negotiate a way to restructure its $8.3 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. PREPA’s failure to extend the forbearance agreement with the insurers marks a setback for the utility, which earlier this month struck a tentative deal with some of its bondholders to reduce its debt load. Insurers that guarantee $2.5 billion of the utility’s debt balked at extending the talks. The forbearance keeps negotiations outside of court. Bondholders agreed to extend the forbearance contract to Oct. 1, while fuel-line lenders pushed the expiration deadline to Sept. 25.
