A group of bond investors is expected to back a new restructuring plan for Puerto Rico’s power utility but would have to contend with other creditors that want to keep fighting for a better deal, the Wall Street Journal reported. BlackRock, Nuveen and Franklin Advisers are nearing a restructuring deal to write down $8.3 billion in debt owed by the bankrupt electric monopoly to a fraction of that amount. The new deal would open a path to ending the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s six-year bankruptcy case and has divided bondholders that until recently were united in negotiations. Bondholders including GoldenTree Asset Management are preparing to battle in court to try to sink the debt plan, due to be filed in court today. BlackRock and others owed nearly $2.4 billion recently broke with a longstanding Prepa bondholder committee advised by law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel and formed their own splinter group with lawyers from Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, court records show. GoldenTree also has hired its own lawyers from White & Case.
