Puerto Rico's main creditors, meeting before a U.S. bankruptcy judge in the largest public finance restructuring case in history, are interested in continuing mediation settlement talks to resolve the island's unpayable $70 billion debt bill, Reuters reported yesterday. In the first hearing since the U.S. commonwealth filed for bankruptcy on May 3, a lawyer for Puerto Rico's federal financial oversight board told U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain that the two main creditor groups expressed interest in maintaining the discussions while the case proceeds. Wednesday's hearing marked the start of a process that could take months or years. It is also a culmination of more than two years of bitter debate among Puerto Rico's government, its creditors and federal lawmakers over how the island should rework its debt load that has crippled its economy. Martin Bienenstock of Proskauer said that the board plans to press holders of GO and COFINA to mediate. The amount of debt held, nearly equally between the two, amounts to roughly $36 billion, or half of the total debt stock of Puerto Rico. Swain ruled to combined the GO and COFINA Title III filings for administrative purposes.
For more news and analysis of Puerto Rico's debt crisis, be sure to visit ABI's "Puerto Rico in Distress" webpage.
