Puerto Rico’s beleaguered electric utility announced new progress late Wednesday in its continuing efforts to avoid a default on as much as one-eighth of the island’s total debt of $72 billion, the New York Times reported today. Officials said that two bond insurers had agreed to take part in a five-year restructuring plan for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, an islandwide monopoly. The insurers’ involvement signaled that PREPA had found a way to satisfy its bondholders, who expect to be paid about $177 million on Jan. 1, without having to part with that much cash itself. PREPA is one of 13 branches of the Puerto Rican government scheduled to make bond payments on Jan. 1, for a total of around $902 million. Read more.
The December episode of "Eye on Bankruptcy" last week was devoted to Puerto Rico, featuring remarks by Rep. Pedro Pierluisi, Judge Steven Rhodes and an analysis of the coming Supreme Court argument on whether the Recovery Act was pre-empted by the Bankruptcy Code.
Join experts in San Juan to discuss Puerto Rico's economic distress and other important cross-border insolvency topics at ABI's Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, Feb. 4-6, 2016. Click here to register!
For more news and analysis of Puerto Rico's debt crisis, be sure to visit ABI's "Puerto Rico in Distress" webpage.
