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The two largest groups of Oi SA bondholders have agreed to inject more cash into a proposed restructuring of the Brazilian telecom’s debt, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday, in the latest twist in Latin America’s biggest-ever bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. The international bondholders committee and the ad hoc group of Oi bondholders on Friday said that proposed changes, which it did not specify, could draw support from other creditors and provide enough new capital to make the restructuring plan “viable.” The additional funding could help the groups fend off a rival restructuring plan by influential shareholder Nelson Tanuré and a smaller group of bondholders known as the G6. The two main credit groups had previously committed to injecting 3 billion reais ($920 million) the restructuring in court of Oi’s 65 billion reais of debt. Both groups and export credit agencies are owed a combined 22.6 billion reais by Oi.

A lawyer for a global group of investors in offshore drilling company Seadrill Ltd vowed yesterday to fight for fair treatment for bondholders unhappy with the company’s proposed debt-cutting plan, Reuters reported. Norway’s Seadrill filed for chapter 11 protection in Texas on Sept. 12, with a plan backed by nearly all lenders as well as holders of 40 percent of its bonds. The plan was backed by major shareholder John Fredriksen, the Norwegian-born shipping billionaire. It will extend by around five years maturities on billions of dollars in loans, intended to give the company breathing space until an industry recovery gains steam. Under the plan, holders of the company’s $2.3 billion in unsecured bonds would receive 14.3 percent of the stock in the reorganized company. That plan was “wholly unacceptable” to a group holding around 25 percent of Seadrill’s bonds, a lawyer for the group told a bankruptcy judge at a recent hearing. The group includes 38 investors from the United States, Europe and Asia, and funds managed by Nordic asset manager DnB Asset Management, Nine Masts Capital Ltd of Hong Kong, and U.S. hedge funds such as Phoenix Investment Adviser LLC.

Brazilian phone carrier Oi SA faced two setbacks from the government yesterday in its efforts to pull off the country’s biggest-ever in-court debt restructuring, Reuters reported. Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel yesterday rejected the company’s request to swap billions of reais in regulatory fines for new investments. Anatel said in a statement that the “unsatisfactory” progress of Oi’s reorganization, now in its 16th month, raised doubts about the company’s ability to honor investment commitments resulting from a fine-for-investment swap. Late yesterday, the president of Brazilian national development bank BNDES, Paulo Rabello de Castro, said Oi’s restructuring plan was insufficient. The company owes BNDES 3.3 billion reais ($1 billion).

Offshore rig company Seadrill has received two additional non-binding proposals from bondholders for a debt restructuring after the Norwegian firm filed for U.S. chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, Reuters reported today. The two indications of interest came from bondholders seeking alternatives to the firm’s own plan, Seadrill said in court documents submitted late on Friday. The company’s own plan is backed by holders of 99 percent of Seadrill’s bank loans and 40 percent of its bonds, and was submitted by its main shareholder, Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, and a group of hedge funds. It offered holders of $2.3 billion of Seadrill’s unsecured bonds a 14.3 percent stake in the restructured firm after dilution, and only a 1.9 percent stake for current shareholders. As a way to show the U.S. bankruptcy court that there was no better plan, Seadrill’s advisors have contacted 94 investors, including 15 oil rig companies, 45 financial investors and seven bondholders. The two indications of interest received so far came from bondholders, and still required substantial impairment of unsecured creditors, Seadrill said. Seadrill didn’t name the bondholders behind the alternative proposals, but it was previously reported that two groups of bondholders were preparing to challenge the official plan.