Creditors overwhelmingly approved a plan to restructure bonds issued by Puerto Rico’s insolvent Government Development Bank (GDB), according to preliminary voting results announced yesterday, Reuters reported. The U.S. Commonwealth’s Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority said final results are expected on or around Sept. 19. The deal would mark the first consensual debt restructuring under PROMESA, which aimed to rescue the island overwhelmed by $120 billion in debt and pension liabilities. Puerto Rico has been trying to restructure its debt since May 2017 through a form of bankruptcy in U.S. court and has other tentative deals with creditors that combined with the GDB agreement cover about 40 percent of its bonded debt. The next step would be final approval by Puerto Rico’s federally appointed financial oversight board and by U.S. Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who the government expects will issue an order around Nov. 6.
