After wondering for seven sweltering days who would pay to rebuild their ruined electrical grid, Puerto Ricans got a possible answer from an unexpected source yesterday: investors holding the island power company’s defaulted bonds, the New York Times reported. The bondholders, a group that includes mutual-fund giants and hedge funds, have offered to lend Puerto Rico $1 billion to pay for urgent repairs and to cancel $150 million of the power company’s outstanding debt in the process. Because of how it is structured, the proposal by the bondholders could help them even as it helps Puerto Rico. The loan would not be enough to replace the island’s aged electrical system, which was knocked out by Hurricane Maria, leaving more than three million people without power and, in some cases, water. The bondholders say, however, that in addition to covering immediate repairs, their offer would allow Puerto Rico to apply for federal grants for long-term rebuilding that would not have to be repaid.
